Texas university files UDRP to get Baylor.com domain name.
Baylor University, a Christian school in Waco, Texas, has filed a UDRP arbitration to get the domain name Baylor.com. The school’s official web address is Baylor.edu.
Baylor has had a good UDRP winning streak lately. The conservative university has won seven cases for dozens of domains already this year. Among the domains it has won are BaylorBears.biz, IHateBaylor.com, and BaylorSalsa.com. It has a pending decision for Baylor-University.com as well.
The case was filed through Austin law firm PirkeyBarber LLP. When contacted by Domain Name Wire, Baylor University would not immediately comment on the case saying it doesn’t comment on pending litigation. Baylor.com owner Bryan Graves also declined to comment.
Most of Baylor’s UDRP filings are clear-cut cases, but this one may be more challenging. Baylor.com is parked at SmartName with a generic looking lander that doesn’t appear to have anything to do with college or students. It contains one related search term for “Baylor”. A historical whois record shows that the domain used to be owned by “The Baylor Company” in Sugarland, Texas before Graves bought it. Baylor is also a county in Texas and a common last name. Based on this information, it doesn’t appear that there’s much likelihood for confusion and this is a generic domain…certainly different than the recent UniversityofTexas.com case.
It will be interesting to see how this one plays out.
David J Castello says
It would’ve taken Baylor.com ten seconds to build an information site about Baylor County. And with the way some of these UDRP decisions have been going lately, the owner may end up wishing he had.
Andrew says
David, this will certainly be an important one to watch. I guess a lot depends on the info I was not able to pull up on this…for example, I couldn’t find any archive pages.
I think this shows that Baylor and its law firm are getting confident. Baylor.com is obviously much more important to them than the domains they’ve already won, so it appears they wanted to test the waters with those before going for the big one.
Jamie Parks says
Where does the ICA stand in this matter? Should Bryan Graves be a member, could he rely on the association to assist him in any way? If so, how would they go about doing so?
If in fact Mr. Graves is unsuccessful in assembling adequate representation to defend his rightful ownership to Baylor.com, it certainly seems like an easy snatch for Baylor University and the lawyers they’ve retained.
Does anyone know who is representing him?
Andrew says
Jamie, ICA doesn’t assist other than referring you to potential counsel. I’m sure Graves knows what he’s doing.
Jamie Parks says
Thanks for the info. Im sure Mr. Graves has a smart lawyer and not just a smartname parked page.
I was under the impression that the ICA could assist in providing some type of representation or at least help by means of tapping the collective wisdom of the association’s member body to help develop a case strategy.
Is the ICA primarily a domainer centric lobbying effort or is there more to the association than meets the eye? Since I am considering ICA membership, any insight or opinion that you may have would be appreciated.
Andrew says
@ Jamie, I can’t speak on behalf of ICA, but in the past it was contacted by someone looking for defense. It referred him to several lawyers offering domain services Defending a UDRP can be expensive, and the ICA doesn’t have the funds to do that. It would need to charge $25,000 a member to be able to do that.;