Tag Archives: UDRP

Thu 29th April 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Manny Ramirez Asks Arbitrator for His (Domain) Name - Former agent let domain name expire, now Manny Ramirez wants it back. Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder Manny Ramirez has filed a complaint with National Arbitration Forum in an effort to get the domain name MannyRamirez.com. It appears the domain name was registered in his former agent’s name and expired after he fired that agent. In early 2009 it was registered to Legacy Sports Group, LLC. But Ramirez had fired his agent at Legacy Sports Group in 2008. Robert ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN May Seek Contracts with UDRP Providers - No discussion at board meeting, but contractual issue is on the table. What did ICANN discuss about UDRP providers during its board meeting last Thursday? Did it discuss Czech Arbitration Court using “supplemental rules” to change the structure of UDRP, as I predicted? Did it discuss the lack of contracts with UDRP providers? Well, it really didn’t discuss anything. It ran out of time. The “preliminary report” from the meeting states that time constraints ... read more ...
Wed 28th April 2010
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New York Times Wins Case Against Typosquatter - Media company wins four typo domain names through arbitration. The New York Times Company has won a National Arbitration Forum case for four domain name typos of its NewYorkTimes.com web address. The company filed the case in March to get the domain names newyourktimes.com, newyortimes.com, neyyorktimes.com, and newyoktimes.com. Although the domain names showed different owners, a previous case brought by Microsoft against the same person tied the identity of all ... read more ...
Mon 26th April 2010
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WIPO Panelist Study Sheds More Light on UDRP Practices - WIPO panelist selection numbers are very different from National Arbitration Forum. Why? Attorney Zak Muscovitch released a study last month about distribution of cases to panelists at National Arbitration Forum. His findings were shocking. Not only were there “runaway panelists” who have heard a disproportionate number of cases, but those runaway panelists happen to find in favor of complainants much more than the typical panelist. With the help of UDRPsearch.com, ... read more ...
Fri 23rd April 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Seriously, Wooot a Hell? - Wooot.com case needs proofreading; sheds light on UDRP panelist practices. Yesterday Elliot Silver wrote a post about the UDRP decision for Wooot.com. The panelist found in the complainant’s favor, but ordered the domain name canceled rather than transferred. I have to admit, even as someone who reads a lot of UDRPs, until about a month ago I assumed that canceled meant transfer. Why? Because it’s so stupid to think of a domain being deleted rather than transferred ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
The Limitations of UDRP to Recover Stolen Domain Names - Recent case involving restaurant guide shows limitations of UDRP for recovering stolen domains. Companies often use UDRP to recover stolen domain names. I’ve seen several cases of three character domain names being recovered this way. But there are limitations to using UDRP to recover a stolen domain name. Part of it has to do with how you position your trademark in the filing. Here’s a case in point: ChicagoRestaurant.com. For over ten years David M. Lissner ... read more ...
Thu 22nd April 2010
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Arbitrator Blasts CitizenHawk for Boilerplate UDRP Filing - Panelist calls out mass UDRP filer for automated case submission. Just how does CitizenHawk file so many UDRP cases? It appears to use an automated UDRP generator or template to quickly file cases. And a panelist with National Arbitration Forum is calling B.S. The case in question is on behalf of CitizenHawk client LetsTalk.com. The company tried to get LetzTalk.com, arguing that it differs by only one letter from its LetsTalk.com mark. But the complaint contained ... read more ...
Wed 21st April 2010
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Barbara Kingsolver Wins Domain Fight, Loser Not Happy - Loser in arbitration case makes his case — publicly. Author Barbara Kingsolver has won a case at National Arbitration Forum for the domain name Kingsolver.com. The soon-to-be-former owner of the domain name is none too pleased. He has posted a tirade about the case at Kingsolver.com (warning: explicit), which will exist until his registrar has to hand the domain name over to Kingsolver on April 29. Kingsolver’s agent forgot to renew the domain name and it was ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Oasis.com: Another Creative Agency Tries to Grab Generic Domain Name - What’s up with online creative agencies? On the one hand, it’s great to see that creative agencies are starting to “get” the importance of having a good, easy-to-remember domain name. There was Media Rain, a Utah digital creative agency that tried to get the domain name Rain.com. Now we can also add Oasis Technology Partners, Inc to the list. The Boston company tried to snag the domain name Oasis.com through UDRP. It too has failed. Oasis Technology ... read more ...
Tue 20th April 2010
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ScotiaBank Loses Case for Caribana Festival Domain Name - Title sponsor for Carnival event in Toronto loses case to get Caribana.com domain name. Bank of Nova Scotia, the title sponsor for Toronto’s Caribbean Carnival called “Caribana”, has lost a dispute to gain ownership of the domain name Caribana.com. Bank of Nova Scotia — aka ScotiaBank — filed the complaint with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to get the domain name from Working Word Co-operative, which publishes Word Magazine. Working Word ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Board to Review UDRP Provider Relationship on Thursday - “And an actual contract?” That raises a very sticky problem with WIPO. WIPO is a treaty organization which is ordinarily immune from most legal actions. Signing a contract would necessarily expose them to suit under that contract, and that is not going to happen. Of course there is no ICANN requirement that WIPO be a UDRP provider either. Under ordinary principles of governance, we do not usually vest the policy making and adjudication functions in the same body (and certainly ... read more ...
Mon 19th April 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Shipping Company Loses Challenge for NOL.com Domain Name - Domain name with Fortune 500 history involved in domain dispute. Shipping company Neptune Orient Lines Limited has lost a UDRP challenge against the owner of the domain name NOL.com. The domain’s owner, cnwonder.com or Wu Guiqiang, said he didn’t register the domain name with the shipping company’s NOL trademark in mind. He also used the domain name for a service called “Names Online”, or NOL for short. The panelist accepted that the domain name wasn’t ... read more ...
Thu 15th April 2010
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Louis Vuitton Loses Domain Dispute for Mobile Domain Name - Fashion company loses dispute over LVMobile.com Louis Vuitton has lost a domain name dispute against Demand Domains for the domain name LVMobile.com The company claimed that LVMobile.com infringed on its LV trademark, and that the parked domain at LVMobile.com included links to the fashion company’s competitors. It also alleged that Demand Domains is a front for Demand Media’s eNom registrar. Demand Domains countered that Louis Vuitton does not have exclusive ... read more ...
Mon 12th April 2010
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Subway Lawyer Misses Layup, Loses Domain Name - Subway doesn’t meet low burden of proof and loses domain dispute. When you see a UDRP case for the domain name MySubwayRewards.com, you assume that the sandwich chain will get a slam dunk. It should be an easy case, especially when the respondent uses the domain name to promote free gift cards to Subway. But that doesn’t mean the complainant gets away without making a basic case. That’s exactly what happened in the case of Doctor’s Associates Inc. v. Atomix. ... read more ...
Fri 9th April 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
MIA.com Saved in Arbitration, But Who’s This Lazy Panelist? - MIA panelist is MIA. The owner of MIA.com has successfully defended her domain name from an attack by Mosaic International, LLC. But the panelist in the case seemed more eager to submit an answer and get his check than to pay attention to the issues. Mosaic International has a line of hair accessories and appliances marketed under the MIA brand. It started using the brand in 2004 and filed a trademark application for MIA in 2007. The owner of MIA.com registered ... read more ...
Wed 7th April 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Registrar Ads on “Coming Soon” Pages Need to Be Addressed - Unpaid parking still a common complaint in UDRP cases. For many years domain name registrars have shown pay-per-click ads on domain names registered by their customers but not in use yet. It makes sense; the customer usually doesn’t care and it helps the registrar earn money and hopefully keep registration prices down. As far as I know, all major registrars show these ads. The problem comes in when a domain gets hit with a frivolous UDRP case and the complainant ... read more ...
Thu 1st April 2010
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Baby Product Company “Gambles”, Gets 4 Character Domain Canceled - Company gets BiBi.com domain name ‘canceled’. [Update: The domain name wasn’t actually ordered transferred to Bibi, instead it was ordered “canceled”, so no one really won the case. ]Lamprecht AG, which sells a line of baby products under the BiBi name, has won the domain name BiBi.com from Future Media Architects through Uniform domain-name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) gotten the ‘cancelation’ of an FMA domain name through UDRP. The complainant ... read more ...
Wed 31st March 2010
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Novo Nordisk Loses Domain Name Dispute - Healthcare company loses arbitration for domain name. Healthcare giant Novo Nordisk has lost a dispute over the domain name FlexTouch.com. Novo Nordisk filed a complaint with World Intellectual Property Organization to get the domain name based on its 2008 and 2009 trademark filings for “FlexTouch”. The current domain owner acquired the domain name after the trademarks were filed. Novo Nordisk argued that the respondent was a “professional domainer” who should ... read more ...
Mon 29th March 2010
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Kraft Wins Philadelphia.es Domain Name - Kraft awarded domain name for cream cheese brand. Kraft, maker of Philadelphia cream cheese, has been awarded the domain name Philadelphia.es by an arbitration panel at World Intellectual Property Organization. Isn’t Philadelphia a generic term, meaning the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania? Perhaps. But the domain owner didn’t respond to the allegations in the case. He could have easily responded to the charges, arguing that he planned to set up a tourism ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Bing! Microsoft Wants Your Bing Domain Names - Microsoft picks up Bing domain names through arbitration. Since launching its new Bing search engine last year, Microsoft has frequently called upon National Arbitration Forum to help it get Bing related domain names registered by cybersquatters. National Arbitration Forum records show that, since December 29, the company has won arbitration cases for at least 40 domain names. The first batch of domains the company won on December 29, 2009 were typical typos, including ... read more ...
Sun 28th March 2010
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Baby Products Company Challenges “Working Mother of 5″ Over Domain Name - Munchkin fights woman who incorporated “Munchkins” in her domain name. Baby products company Munchkin has lost its attempt to get the domain name MamasandMunchkins.com from a “working mother of 5 small children”. Munchkin, which operates at the web site Munchkin.com, argued that Teri VanDerLaan’s domain name “fully incorporates” Munchkin’s trademark. So what happens when a big company goes after a working mother of 5 just trying to make a living? ... read more ...
Fri 26th March 2010
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Franchisors Need to Add Domain Name Rules to Contracts - Domain disputes common with franchises. I often see domain name disputes between franchisors and franchisees when it comes to domain names. These usually resolve around two issues: 1. Franchisor doesn’t want franchisee to register a domain name using the franchise trademarks 2. When a franchise agreement is terminated, the franchisor wants the domain name back/terminated Here’s a case in point. Re-Bath LLC recently filed a domain name arbitration request against ... read more ...
Mon 22nd March 2010
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Study Shows Million Dollar Domain Arbitrators and UDRP Bias - Study sheds light on potentially biased appointment of UDRP arbitrators. For the past few weeks I’ve been working with an outside party to analyze the distribution of WIPO cases amongst arbitrators. Now attorney Zak Muscovitch has beaten me to it with National Arbitration Forum data. For those that follow NAF cases, you won’t be surprised to learn what Muscovitch discovered. But it’s still startling. One controversial panelist has heard about 10% of all cases: ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Allegedly Stolen Domain Names Resold on Flippa - Thief resold domain names on Flippa to unsuspecting domain buyer. A National Arbitration Forum panel has refused to hand over the domain names Recent.net, Than.net, and They.net in a UDRP decision. I wrote about the case earlier this month, suggesting that the UDRP dispute must be over stolen domain names. UDRP is sometimes used to regain control of stolen domain names, but the complainant needs to be able to show trademark rights to the domain names. In this ... read more ...
Sun 21st March 2010
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Altria Gets a Hit with Marijuana Domain Name Dispute - Tobacco company scores a hit with marijuana domains. In December I wrote about how Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris, had filed a complaint to get the domain names AltriaCannabis.com and AltriaMarijuana.com. The company won the case at World Intellectual Property Forum against Daniel Cheng of Washington, D.C., and the domain names should be transferred to Altria’s possession shortly. As I noted in the earlier article, the domain names each had web sites ... read more ...