Investment organisation RVK intent in Reverse Domain Name Hijacking on RVK.com - Company changed its brand last year, filed UDRP to get matching three letter domain name.
They want the matching domain name, but would rather not pay for it.A World Intellectual Property Organization panel has found investment advisory firm RVK (formerly R.V. Kuhns Associates, Inc.) guilty of engaging in reverse domain name hijacking over the domain name RVK.com.
The company, aided by law firm Tonkon Torp LLP, filed a UDRP against domain name owner Gregory Ricks.
According to the decision, the ... read more ...
Tag Archives: Reverse domain name hijacking
Wed 21st January 2015
Tue 20th January 2015
MomAndMe.com spared in UDRP. Should have been RDNH? - Indian company should not have brought case.
A single member World Intellectual Property Organization panel has ruled against Mahindra Mahindra Limited of India in its UDRP against the owner of MomAndMe.com.
Even though the domain name owner didn’t respond, this case should have been a candidate for reverse domain name hijacking.
The complainant claims rights dating as far back as 2007. The domain name owner appears to have registered the domain name in 2000. Case closed.
More worrisome is how ... read more ...
Wed 5th November 2014
CyclingTips.com.au owners guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking -
Company went after CyclingTips.com.
Law firm ESQwire.com has scored yet another Reverse Domain Name Hijacking victory on behalf of a client.
Wallace Media Pty Ltd, which operates the cycling website CyclingTips.com.au, filed the case against the owner of CyclingTips.com. Wallace Media complained that people looking for its site often leave off the .au, leading them to the respondent’s domain name.
There were a lot of issues at play in this case, including when ... read more ...
Tue 4th November 2014
John Berryhill fills Noah’s Ark, gets another retreat domain name hijacking win -
Domain attorney defends owner of Squirrels.com in his latest animal-related UDRP.
Domain name attorney John Berryhill is either Noah, busily filling up his ark, or he has a fetish with animals.
He’s successfully defended UDRP filings against Pig.com, Elephant.com, Ant.com and Elk.com. Now you can add Squirrels.com to the list.
World Intellectual Property Organization has just handed down a decision in Squirrels LLC vs. Giorgio Uzonian for the domain name Squirrels.com.
As ... read more ...
Mon 27th October 2014
Turkish grill sequence guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking -
Develi Restaurant chain guilty of abusing UDRP.
A restaurant in Turkey has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking over the domain name develi.com.
The complainant runs a restaurant chain called Develi and uses the domain name DeveliKebap.com.
A key problem for the complainant was that Develi is also the name of a city in Turkey. Although the complainant has trademarks including “Develi”, these are figurative marks as part of a drawing.
In fact, when ... read more ...
Mon 6th October 2014
Planet Fitness guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking -
…as the company wastes money with a reactive approach to intellectual property management.
Planet Fitness, a chain of over 800 fitness clubs in the United States, has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking for its attempt to get the domain name judgmentfree.com.
This is despite the domain name owner not even responding to the dispute.
Planet Fitness uses the slogan “Judgement Free Zone” for its gyms. I assume that means you won’t be judged for ... read more ...
Mon 15th September 2014
Owner of CountryGirlStore.com guilty of retreat domain name hijacking -
Company abused policy to try to deprive rightful owner of CountryGirl.com domain name.
LML Investments, owner of Country Girl branded clothing sold at CountryGirlStore.com, has been admonished by a panel for abusing the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).
The company filed a cybersquatting complaint against PA Gordon, owner of CountryGirl.com. The case was filed despite Gordon having owned the domain name since well before LML Investments claims ... read more ...
Fri 12th September 2014
Frank Schilling gets retreat domain name hijacking win on Puket.com -
“Ah, Puket, let’s file this case and hope they don’t show up.”
Clothing company IMB Textil S.A., which uses the domain name puket.com.br, has been found guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH) for trying to steal Puket.com through UDRP.
Frank Schilling parked the domain name Puket.com, an alternative spelling of Phuket in Thailand, and it showed links related to to island.
IMB Textil filed the UDRP after initiating purchase negotiations with Schilling, ... read more ...
Tue 9th September 2014
Reverse domain name hijacking of Verb.com in a “Foolish rubbish of time” -
“Baseless” complaint was a “foolish waste of time”.
Three related hair care products companies have been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking after trying to steal the domain name Verb.com through a UDRP.
Verb Products Inc., Verb Hair Products Canada Inc., and Moroccanoil Israel Ltd. filed the complaint with the assistance of law firm Conkle, Kremer Engel, PLC.
The three person WIPO panel that heard the case said it agreed with the first statement ... read more ...
Fri 5th September 2014
Clearwater Systems Guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking -
Case contradicts prior rulings involving the same complainant, but the panelist in the other cases probably got it wrong.
Clearwater Systems of Akron, Ohio, has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking.
It’s a decision that might make the company scratch its head in light of two recent victories using UDRP.
The present case is for ClearWaterSystems.net, a domain name owned by a water softener and bottled water company in Indiana.
Panelist Richard G. Lyon ... read more ...
Wed 20th August 2014
Reverse domain name hijacking statute over SaintLazarusUSA.com -
WIPO panelist hands down RDNH ruling.
Every once in a while I read a UDRP involving organizations in a world I simply didn’t know existed.
Such is the case in The American Association of the Order of St. Lazarus, Inc. v. Thierry Villejust over the domain name SaintLazarusUSA.com.
The complainant was found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking in the case.
The respondent is “a member of the governing council of the Orleans obedience and serves as the Grand Bailiff ... read more ...
Sat 26th July 2014
Roundup: this week in a Domain Name Business -
It was another exciting week in the domain name industry. Here’s a look back.
Domain Registry of America may finally get cut off from ICANN. The notorious company that sends misleading domain renewal notices to domain owners has been suspended by ICANN and a full termination may be coming.
Sedo is planning a big new TLD booth at September’s DMEXCO conference in Germany. Interested new TLD companies are invited to reach out to the company about participating.
Amazon ... read more ...
Tue 1st July 2014
North Carolina association guilty of Reverse domain name hijacking -
Company claims rights dating to 2010 and domain name was registered in 2002. But…
Personal Communication Systems, Inc of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking.
The company filed a UDRP against the owner of HealthWave.com. Healthwave is the name of an automated medical appointment reminder system that Personal Communication Systems sells.
It has a trademark for Healthwave, but the earliest claimed use dates to 2010. ... read more ...
Thu 12th June 2014
Egton loses Patient.com UDRP, though it should have been retreat domain name hijacking -
Egton Medical loses big time, but panel doesn’t admonish it for frivolous filing.
Egton Medical Information Systems Limited has lost a UDRP it filed against Health Axis Group LLC in March over the domain name Patient.com.
This was a particularly egregious filing and obvious abuse of the policy. The three person panel found that Egton Medical didn’t prove any of the three prongs of the UDRP.
Egton also made ridiculous arguments, such as Health Axis Group’s ownership ... read more ...
Wed 11th June 2014
Why no RDNH for Thingify.com? -
A classic abuse-of-proceeding case, but no RDNH finding.
A WIPO panel just handed down a decision in a UDRP for Thingify.com. It follows a familiar story line:
1. Person starts company, but matching .com domain is taken.
2. Company opts to use a different extension, in this case Thingify.net.
3. Company then tries to buy .com but can’t strike a deal at the price it wants.
4. Company files a UDRP it has no chance of winning.
In the case of Thingify, Inc, it knew ... read more ...
Tue 29th April 2014
FICEP SPA guilty of retreat domain name hijacking in unwashed UDRP case -
This case is particularly dirty.
Italian machine tool manufacturing company FICEP SPA has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking in a UDRP for FICEP.com.
Czech Arbitration Court panelist Jane Seager got the call right as this is a very clear cut case of reverse domain name hijacking. It was a pretty dirty filing.
FICEP SPA filed a case against respondent FICEP in October. It was a clear-cut case that it lost.
Although FICEP SPA has been around for decades, ... read more ...
Mon 7th April 2014
UDRP complainant shoots self in feet with supplemental filing -
Company effectively admits its original complaint was destined to fail when it makes supplemental filing.
Inbay Limited of the United Kingdom has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking in a UDRP for Inbay.com.
The three person panel found that Inbay should have known its complaint would fail from the outset. Perhaps more importantly, it should have known it would fail after receiving the domain owner’s response — yet it decided to file a supplemental ... read more ...
Tue 18th March 2014
Panel won’t find Reverse Domain Name Hijacking due to whois privacy -
UDRP panelist cites whois privacy as reason for not finding RDNH.
A single member National Arbitration Forum panel has found in favor of the owner of Finell.com, but declined to find reverse domain name hijacking because the owner used a whois privacy service.
The UDRP complaint was brought by Finell Co., LLC, which has its origins around 2011. Architect Filip Finell registered Finell.com in 2000 and started using it to promote his architecture firm. He later took ... read more ...
Tue 28th January 2014
UNiDAYS guilty of retreat domain name hijacking -
Company that uses MyUnidays.com tries to hijack Unidays.com.
UK company MYUNiDAYS, which offers products at a discount to college students under the UNiDAYS brand, has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking in a cybersquatting case.
The company uses MyUnidays.com for its web address and filed a cybersquatting UDRP complaint against Unidays.com.
UNiDAYS launched in 2011 and obviously chose the MyUnidays.com domain name because Unidays.com was already registered. ... read more ...
Thu 23rd January 2014
Cobb International guilty of retreat domain name hijacking -
Company filed UDRP case even though the domain names at issue were not registered in bad faith.
South African firm Cobb International has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking in a UDRP decision at World Intellectual Property Organization.
Cobb International filed a UDRP for the domain names CobbQ.com and CobbAmerica.com against Chris Holloway, Cobb Depot, Inc., Advanced Outdoor Concepts, Inc in Florida.
The respondent in the case was a distributor for ... read more ...
Mon 13th January 2014
RPG Life Sciences Ltd guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking -
Company filed dispute against domain name clearly being used for another legitimate purpose.
Pharmaceuticals and biotech business RPG Life Sciences Ltd. of Mumbai has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking in a domain name dispute.
World Intellectual Property Organization panelist Nicholas Weston found that RPG Life Sciences had filed a UDRP in bad faith in an attempt to get the domain name RPGlife.com. The domain name is owned by a Wisconsin man who ... read more ...
Wed 8th January 2014
Brazilian association guilty of retreat domain name hijacking -
Dental company went after domain name used by Korean dentist.
A three person WIPO panel has found JJGC Industria E Comercio de Materiais Dentarios S.A. of Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil, guilty of reverse domain name hijacking.
The company, which specializes in dental implants, filed its case over the domain name NeoDent.com. It uses the domain name NeoDent.com.br.
NeoDent.com is owned by someone in Korea who actually uses the domain name for a dental practice called ... read more ...
Tue 7th January 2014
2013 Top Stories: A record series of RDNH filings -
More complainants than ever were found guilty of trying to steal domain names using UDRP.
2013 saw a record number of UDRP complainants found guilty of “Reverse Domain Name Hijacking,” which is essentially using the UDRP in bad faith to attempt to obtain a domain name.
As of the middle of last month, 24 complainants had been found guilty of abusing the UDRP.
Nat Cohen has a lengthy article explaining why the number may have spiked in 2013.
One hypothesis is that, ... read more ...
Tue 17th December 2013
Domainers are going to adore and hatred a QLP.com UDRP decision -
Complaint fails, by why did only one panelist find Quality Logo Products guilty of reverse domain name hijacking?
Get On The Web, Ltd has successfully defended the domain name QLP.com in a UDRP brought by Quality Logo Products, Inc. While the overall decision in the case was good, domain investors are still going to be upset about some of the details.
The obvious fact here is that QLP.com is a generic domain. It was also registered in 1999. That’s seven years before ... read more ...
Mon 9th December 2013
Tony Willoughby finds another association guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking -
Panelist finds another company guilty of reverse domain name hijacking.
World Intellectual Property Organization panelist Tony Willoughby has found Aero Club of New Delhi, India guilty of reverse domain name hijacking in a UDRP.
This is Willoughby’s second RDNH finding in under a month. In both cases, it appears that the respondent did not specifically request the panelist to consider an RDNH charge. (Willoughby, like some other panelists, recognizes the duty to ... read more ...