Tag Archives: National Arbitration Forum

Fri 14th August 2009
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Mirabella Beauty Products Guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking - Panel not impressed with beauty company’s claims. California beauty products company Mirabella Beauty Products, LLC has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking by a three person arbitration panel. The company filed a complaint with National Arbitration Forum for the domain name Mirabella.com, but had some major holes in its argument. In its decision, the panel wrote: Here, the Respondent urges a declaration of reverse domain name hijacking on the ground ... read more ...
 
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Car Dealer Loses EverybodyRides.com (Again) - Virginia car deal finds out that nobody is riding. Virginia car dealer Free Bridge Auto Sales Inc. has lost its challenge for the domain name EverybodyRides.com…for a second time. In March of this year the company filed a complaint with National Arbitration Forum to get the domain name from its owner. The car dealer convinced the panel that the domain was used in bad faith, but not that it was registered in bad faith. In fact, the complainant admitted to the panel ... read more ...
Mon 10th August 2009
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Open Season on OpenDental.com - Sloppy decision should worry domain name owners. The domain name OpenDental.com has been awarded to a software company in a domain arbitration case. The details of the case are startling, and all domain name owners should pay attention. The key fact is that the registrant of OpenDental.com, a licensed dentist in South Korea, registered the domain name in 1999. The complainant, which operates Open Dental Software, didn’t start using the trademark in commerce until ... read more ...
Thu 6th August 2009
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Disabled American Veterans Wins DAV.com Domain Name Case - Non-profit wins three letter domain name in highly questionable ruling. The non-profit Disabled American Veterans has won the domain name DAV.com through arbitration at National Arbitration Forum. The organization’s main web site is DAV.org. This case gives me great consternation. The truth is, the owner of the web site appeared to use all sorts of whois identities. And, a couple years ago, the domain name did show ads for veterans benefits. But none of these ... read more ...
Wed 22nd July 2009
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National Arbitration Forum Panelist Sued for Judicial Misconduct - Arbitrator sued in Houston for allegedly presuming guilt. One of National Arbitration Forum’s (NAF) most prolific arbitrators, The Honorable Carolyn Marks Johnson, has been sued in Houston for alleged judicial misconduct. Judge Johnson has been an active domain dispute arbitrator with NAF. A 2001 analysis of UDRP cases (pdf) showed that, not only was she handed a disproportionate number of complaints by NAF, but she also found in favor of the complainant 97.2% ... read more ...
 
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Brady Quinn’s Domain Name Intercepted - Cleveland Browns quarterback loses arbitration for BradyQuinn.com. Brady Quinn’s domain name has been intercepted. The Cleveland Browns quarterback filed for arbitration at National Arbitration Forum to get the domain name BradyQuinn.com from a Florida man. He lost the case, failing to persuade an arbitrator that the domain name was registered in bad faith. The case hinged on when exactly Quinn got common law rights to the name “Brady Quinn”. The respondent ... read more ...
Mon 20th July 2009
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National Arbitration Forum Settles Suit with Attorney General - National Arbitration Forum to cease credit card and consumer arbitration under agreement. Just one week after the Minnesota Attorney General filed suit against National Arbitration Forum, the two sides have settled. As part of the agreement, National Arbitration Forum will no longer perform arbitration for credit card and other consumer arbitration. National Arbitration Forum is one of the two largest arbitrators for domain name disputes under UDRP, but the case ... read more ...
Wed 15th July 2009
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Minnesota Attorney General Sues National Arbitration Forum - Attorney general alleges deceptive practices in credit card disputes. The Minnesota Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against National Arbitration Forum, one of the largest domain name dispute providers under UDRP. The lawsuit does not pertain to domain arbitration, but instead to credit and collection disputes. The Attorney General alleges “that [National Arbitration Forum] misrepresented its independence and hid from consumers and the public its extensive ... read more ...
Tue 23rd June 2009
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National Arbitration Forum FAIL - Double jeopardy comes to UDRP. Last week I wrote about a WIPO domain arbitration case in which a complainant refiled a case after losing the first time. The arbitrator ruled that the complainant didn’t include any information in its refiled case that it couldn’t have discovered and filed in its original case. So he dismissed the case. But over at National Arbitration Forum double jeopardy is alive and well. On April 6, an arbitrator ruled that Traditional ... read more ...
Sun 31st May 2009
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Trademark Group Pushes Rapid Domain Takedown Scheme - Group submits final report to ICANN. Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT), an ad hoc group put together to represent trademark interests in the launch of new top level domains, has issued its final report (pdf). The report will be discussed at ICANN’s next meeting in Sydney. The part that seems most relevant to domain investors is the Uniform Rapid Suspension system (URS). Think of it as a fast track UDRP for obvious trademark cases. Here are few of my observations: 1. ... read more ...
Tue 26th May 2009
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Firm Wants to Be “Your Lawyer” (and Wants a Domain Names, Too) - Arbitration panel finds Parker Waichman Alonso LLP overstepping its bounds. New York law firm Parker Waichman Alonso LLP has two registered trademarks that include the term “YourLawyer”: yourlawyer.com on the principal register and YourLawyer on the supplemental register. It’s trying to make a land grab online for domains that include “YourLawyer” in them. The law firm just lost a case at National Arbitration Forum for the domain YourLawyer.tv, which is ... read more ...
Tue 19th May 2009
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Bank of America Gets Split Decision in Domain Name Dispute - Company awarded 2 of 4 domain names related to Merrill Lynch acquisition. It’s not often that I read a domain name arbitration decision and think a cybersquatter won. But that’s the case with a recent decision handed down through National Arbitration Forum. A New York company registered four domain names last year related to Bank of America’s (NYSE: BAC) acquisition: bofaml.com, mlbofa.com, bofamerrill.com, and merrillbofa.com. When you look at these four ... read more ...
Tue 12th May 2009
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Anteaters Fail to Eat Ant.com - Attorney John Berryhill successfully defends Ant.com in UDRP case. Attorney John Berryhill has defended big animals such as Elephant.com. He’s even defended swine flu-carrying animals such as Pig.com. But he must have really set aside his ego to defend a tiny little pest in Ant.com. Nonetheless, he won. The complainant was Atlanta Network Technologies, Inc., which operates ANTonline.com. The respondent was ANT.COM Limited, which offers search functionality and ... read more ...
Wed 6th May 2009
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UDRP Arbitration: A Case of Laziness? - Filta.com case calls into question (lack of) incentives of UDRP arbitrators. I recently read through documents related to Filta.com, a domain name awarded to the complainant in a National Arbitration Forum case on April 23. The case is disturbing on a number of fronts. If you just read the decision, you’d think this was a fairly simple case (although you’d probably wonder how a trademark to the term “Filtafry” gives you rights to the name “Filta”). But ... read more ...
Tue 5th May 2009
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There’s Something About Cameron Diaz’ Domain Name - Actress files for arbitration to get CameronDiaz.com. Cameron Diaz has joined a slate of celebrities to recently file for arbitration to get domain names. Yesterday a case commenced at National Arbitration Forum for the domain name CameronDiaz.com. The domain name is currently parked at SmartName with links to “Cameron Diaz Actress”, “Entertainment”, and “Celebrity Posters”. The domain name’s whois record shows that it is owned by a Canadian company. Diaz ... read more ...
Mon 20th April 2009
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A Wacky Domain Dispute in Orange County - iLounge.com tries to get iLoungeOC.com from its neighbor. Here’s an interesting domain arbitration case in Orange County. iLounge.com, a web site about iPod and iPhone accessories and software, started getting communications that were meant for a restaurant and bar also in Orange County called iLounge Orange County. The restaurant uses the domain name iLoungeOC.com. iLounge.com lost the case, as it was clear the restaurant was using the domain name for a legitimate ... read more ...
Fri 17th April 2009
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Sigourney Weaver Wants Her Domain Name - Actress files with National Arbitration Forum to get SigourneyWeaver.com. Actress Sigourney Weaver, star of the Alien movie series (photo), has filed for arbitration to get the domain name SigourneyWeaver.com. The case will be handled by an arbitration panel from National Arbitration Forum under the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy. The domain name was originally registered in 1999, but changed hands in 2004 or 2005 to the current owner. The whois record for the ... read more ...
Thu 16th April 2009
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Santa Monica Tussles with “I Am Domain Names” - Santa Monica loses UDRP for IAmSantaMonica.com. Remember that guy Stephen Webb, who started showing up at domain conferences a couple years ago promoting his “Iamcityname.com” and “WeArecityname.com” domain names? He had a bit of success, striking deals with a couple cities and even selling IAmSeattle.com to the Space Needle in Seattle. But one former client apparently didn’t understand the meaning of “lease”. Santa Monica Convention Visitors Bureau ... read more ...
Thu 9th April 2009
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Silicon Labs Gets Its Name Back - Billion dollar company let domain name expire, but wins it back in arbitration. Last month Domain Name Wire wrote about Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB), a billion dollar company that let the domain name SiliconLabs.com expire. (The company’s web site is at SIlabs.com). Silicon Labs filed for arbitration at National Arbitration Forum. This week an arbitration panel awarded the domain name back to the company, and the name should be transferred within the next few ... read more ...
Wed 8th April 2009
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Edible Arrangements Should Stick to Edibles - Would you like a UDRP with that arrangement? Poor Edible Arrangements. All it wanted to do was swipe the domain name EdibleBrands.com. But it didn’t count on the respondent calling John Berryhill to pick apart the case. Now that food-instead-of-flowers company Edible Arrangements, LLC is getting big, it’s apparently creating a new brand or umbrella company called Edible Brands. It filed for a trademark for “Edible Brands” in January 2009 using a “first ... read more ...
Fri 3rd April 2009
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Company Loses Bid to Take Decimal.com - Respondent doesn’t respond but still wins case. You know you brought a UDRP arbitration case in bad faith when the respondent doesn’t bother to respond and you still win lose. That’s what happened with the generic domain name Decimal.com. Radiation therapy company .decimal, Inc., which uses the domain name dotdecimal.com, waged the complaint against the owner of Decimal.com. The web site at decimal.com contains nothing other than a message that the domain ... read more ...
Thu 19th March 2009
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Someone’s Shouting a F-Bomb About Fbomb.com - Obscure clothing company wins fbomb.com in arbitration. In January I wrote about an ongoing auction at Sedo for the domain name Fbomb.com. Here’s what I wrote: “FBomb.com – $1,500 – so many uses” There are so many uses because of the generic meaning of f-bomb. So I was surprised to notice a few weeks later that fbomb.com was in arbitration at National Arbitration Forum. I contact the owner who told me that the company that won the domain at Sedo filed ... read more ...
Wed 18th March 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New UDRP Domain Arbitration Search Engine Launches - UDRPsearch.com searches cases at National Arbitration Forum and WIPO. A new UDRP search engine, UDRPsearch.com, has launched. The web site allows you to search cases at both National Arbitration Forum and World Intellectual Property Organization without going to both sites. This is helpful for researching particular keywords, complainants, respondents, etc. The site is similar to another one I’ve written about, DomainFight.net. You can search by domain, complainant/respondent, ... read more ...
Tue 17th March 2009
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Howard Neu Saves Domain from Being Flushed Down Toilet - KohlerSucks.com saved at National Arbitration Forum. A $4,331 toilet from Kohler Kohler Co., which does everything from manufacture toilets to develop golf resorts, should read up on domain arbitration rules prior to filing its next request under UDRP. Domain attorney Howard M. Neu helped the owner of KohlerSucks.com defend the domain name against a frivolous complaint by the Kohler conglomerate. In a concise and perfectly clear decision, an arbitrator ruled: Complainant ... read more ...
Thu 12th March 2009
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Billion Dollar Company Loses Key Domain Name - Silicon Labs loses domain name, fights to get it back. Austin, Texas-based Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB) has lost control of a key domain name, SiliconLabs.com. The company has filed for arbitration with National Arbitration Forum to regain control of the domain. Silicon Labs’ main domain name is SiLabs.com. But I suspect most people trying to find the company’s web site for the first time type in SiliconLabs.com, and a lot of e-mails are accidentally addressed ... read more ...