Tag Archives: wipo

Thu 5th March 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Viacom Loses South Park Domain Dispute - Company uses UDRP to go after copyright infringer. Panel doesn’t bite. Viacom has lost another domain dispute. But this time it wasn’t trying to steal a generic domain name; it was trying to shut down a web site containing copyrighted material. Viacom filed for arbitration under UDRP for the domain name StansDad.com. Stan and his dad are popular characters in the company’s animated South Park television show. But there’s no trademark here. Viacom tried ... read more ...
Tue 17th February 2009
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Arbitrator: Viacom is a Jackass - Arbitrator decides Viacom shouldn’t get Jackass.com. “We look like Jackasses.” This is a follow up to a story Domain Name Wire first published in December. Viacom (NYSE: VIA.B), parent company of MTV, filed a UDRP complaint to get the domain name Jackass.com. As I pointed out then, Viacom had an uphill battle. Not only is the term Jackass generic, but it was facing an domain registrant that wouldn’t step down. In fact, Viacom is lucky that it lost this ... read more ...
Mon 16th February 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Trademark Holders Continue to Reclaim .Me Domain Names - Sprite.me and Firefox.me go back to their rightful owners. When .me launched to the general public last year, it was clear that a lot of people hadn’t heard of cybersquatting. Domain names like Porsche.me, Toyota.me, and Firefox.me were snapped up (and not my their familiar namesakes). Many of these domains were picked up at auction for a substantial amount of money. Why did .me attract so many deep pocketed cybersquatters? I can only surmise that .me attracted ... read more ...
Fri 6th February 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Arena.com Owner Wins Domain Name Arbitration - Panel finds Arena Swimwear’s arguments unconvincing. Sometimes I see a domain name dispute and wonder what the heck the complainant was thinking. When I saw that the one word generic domain name Arena.com was in dispute, I scratched my head. First of all, I’d never heard of the complainant. Second, you better have some damning evidence against the respondent to go after a generic word such as Arena. When I see the domain name Arena.com, I think of sports arenas. As ... read more ...
Tue 3rd February 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Red Bull Can Now Energize Mobile Phones - Energy drink seller Red Bull wins rights to RedBull.mobi. Red Bull, famous for giving you an energy boost, can now energize mobile phones with the domain name RedBull.mobi. The company won the domain name in a dispute at World Intellectual Property Association. The respondent, Roy Atar of Israel, defended himself by saying he is commonly known by friends as “Shor Adom”, which translates into English as “Red Bull”. Atar did not park the domain name; it was ... read more ...
Mon 2nd February 2009
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RAI.mobi Owner Needs to Put a Foot in His Mouth - RAI.mobi domain owner did himself a disservice in responding to UDRP. It’s difficult to win a UDRP domain arbitration case when you don’t respond to the proceedings. (Difficult, but not impossible). But sometimes not responding to a case is a better idea than responding with a half-hearted story. That’s what happened in the case or RAI.mobi, a generic domain name won by complainant RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana S.p.A. This isn’t a case of someone registering ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy Charges Own Customers with Cybersquatting - Domain name registrar files UDRP complaints for its trademarks. You won’t believe where the domain names are registered. Domain name registrar GoDaddy.com and its parent company have filed 4 UDRP cases with World Intellectual Property Organization this year. What’s interesting isn’t that a domain registrar is protecting its brands. It’s that many of the domains it is trying to get are registered at GoDaddy. Of the four cases, two involve domain names at ... read more ...
Thu 22nd January 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Third Eye Blind Wins Domain Name Dispute - Alternative rock group wins bizarre domain arbitration. This is a follow up to the story I wrote in November (Rock Group Wants ThirdEyeBlind.net). Third Eye Blind has prevailed in the dispute. In November I speculated: The owners of ThirdEyeBlind.net seem to be dodging the band by changing its whois information repeatedly. The latest whois information shows the owner is “Third Eye Blinds Curtains” of India. This seems like a ruse to claim that the domain ... read more ...
Sun 11th January 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
NamePros Cited in ISO.mobi Domain Arbitration - Content on popular domain forum cited as evidence of bad faith. Domain name forum NamePros was cited in the recently decided arbitration case for ISO.mobi at World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). According to the complainant, International Organization for Standardization ISO, the owner of ISO.mobi offered some of ISO’s other trademarks in domain names for sale: An offer to sell the disputed domain name was made on the website “www.namepros.com”. ... read more ...
Fri 9th January 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Arbitration Doesn’t “Get More” Crazy Than This - Denmark company tries to grab GetMore.com domain name at arbitration. Picture this. You own an online electronics store called GetMore.dk. After a few years you realize you probably should own GetMore.com as well. So you find out the owner of the domain has listed it for sale on Sedo. You try to negotiate but the owner wants too much. Who you gonna call? WIPO. That’s what GetMore A/S, owner GetMore.dk did. It filed an arbitration case for GetMore.com. It ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Celebrity Domain Names: Meg Whitman, Conde Naste [Updated] - Two celebrity domain name scuffles get media attention. Can’t bid for her name. Two stories hit the online world today about pseudo-celebrities battling to get their names as domain names. First, there’s an Associated Press article about former eBay CEO-turned-politician Meg Whitman. She filed for WIPO arbitration to get MegWhitman.com. The case was terminated because WIPO determined she was not famous enough for her name to be a brand. [The original version ... read more ...
Wed 24th December 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Scarlett Johansson Wins ScarlettJohansson.com Domain Name - Actress wins domain name at WIPO. Actress Scarlett Johansson has won rights to the domain name ScarlettJohansson.com in an arbitration decision at World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Johansson has starred in numerous movies including Lost in Translation, Match Point, and The Ghost Whisperer and been nominated for several Golden Globe Awards. The details of the domain name arbitration case are rather interesting. Apparently the owner of the domain, ... read more ...
Thu 18th December 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
PokerHost.net Owner Wins Reverse Domain Hijacking Charge - Russ “Dutch” Boyd gets a royal flush. Dutch Boyd cleans up atthe tables and WIPO. Last month I wrote about arbitration proceedings for the domain PokerHost.net. The complainant — online poker company Poker Host Inc which operates PokerHost.com — seemed to be fudging dates in its filing. The arbitrator agreed, finding in favor of respondent Russ “Dutch” Boyd, and also found Poker Host Inc. guilty of reverse domain name hijacking because of its fuzzy use ... read more ...
Wed 10th December 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
MTV: Don’t Be a Jackass - MTV wants Jackass.com. It better prepare for an uphill battle. Who are you calling a Jackass? MTV’s parent company Viacom (NYSE: VIA.b) filed for arbitration to get the domain name Jackass.com, a case that commenced at WIPO on December 5. There are two problems for Viacom: it’s a generic term and it’s owned by Future Media Architects. Jackass started as a TV show on MTV featuring people doing stunts and pranks. After running on MTV from 2000-2002 two Jackass ... read more ...
Fri 21st November 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Is PokerHost.com Fudging Dates? - Online casino files UDRP, but when was it actually founded? PokerHost.com has filed a UDRP complaint with WIPO to get the domain name PokerHost.NET. If you’re not familiar with the online poker industry, many poker sites use the .net version of their name for advertising. The .net site actually doesn’t allow real money betting and is either a free version or tutorial site, so it can be advertised on TV. Of course the short term goal is for people to type in ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
UDRP Watch: Ping.me, GoldenGlobes.com, and NameJet Typo - A review of recently filed domain name arbitration cases. Here’s a quick look at recently filed arbitration cases at WIPO and National Arbitration Forum. Check back for updates as the cases are decided. Ping.me: Although the domain owner won’t talk, my guess is Ping Golf filed this case. They’ve been aggressive in the past trying to get Ping.net and other domains. GoldenGlobe(s).com: Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which runs the Golden Globe Awards, ... read more ...
Thu 20th November 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Frank Schilling Loses His First UDRP - Schilling’s company comes down on wrong end of ChilliBeans.com decision. Frank Schilling’s Name Administration has lost its first UDRP decision, spoiling a perfect record of success (according to searches at National Arbitration Forum and WIPO). Schilling, teamed up with attorney John Berryhill as usual, failed to convince a three person WIPO panel that its use of the domain name ChilliBeans.com was generic. The complainant is a company selling sunglasses under ... read more ...
Fri 14th November 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
BMEzine Files Response to BME.com Lawsuit - An update to the ongoing saga over BME.com. BMEzine.com’s home page. BMEzine has filed a response to Gregory Ricks’ lawsuit over the domain name BME.com. Here’s a quick history: -In August, Gregory Ricks lost the domain name BME.com in a WIPO decision under UDRP. Although it is a generic three character domain name, he had a picture and ads related to tattoos and body modification. There is a popular web site called BMEzine.com about tattoos, body modification, ... read more ...
Mon 10th November 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Rock Group Wants ThirdEyeBlind.net - Alternative rock group files UDRP to get domain name ahead of new album release. Rock group Third Eye Blind has filed a UDRP claim to get the domain name ThirdEyeBlind.net. The claim was filed by lead vocalist Stephan Jenkins’ production company. Third Eye Blind’s official web site is the short and simple 3eb.com. So why just get around to filing the UDRP now, and why only the .net version instead of .com? I have a couple hunches. For the timing, Third Eye ... read more ...
Thu 6th November 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Porsche.me: Money Down a Drain - Man who shelled out big bucks in .me auction kicking himself now. Pity poor Georg Kohler of Brazil. In August I wrote about how he snapped up car company names in the .me launch auctions. He even paid $90,025 for Toyota.me. Apparently he hadn’t gotten the memo from ten years ago about the dangers of owning trademarked domain names. In a recent World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) decision, he lost Porsche.me to the car company. Could his $90,000 investment ... read more ...
Mon 3rd November 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DomainFight Searches UDRP Arbitration Cases - Search tool scans both NAF and WIPO cases. One of the frustrations I encounter when researching UDRP arbitration cases is that there are two primary databases to search. Most decisions that matter are handled by National Arbitration Forum (NAF) and World Intellectual Property Organizations (WIPO). If I want to look for cases involving a particular person, I have to navigate between both sites to search. This also annoyed the guys at USpeakWeType Technologies, LLC, ... read more ...
Thu 18th September 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Chicago Man Files Lawsuit to Keep Chicago2016.com - Follow up to Domain Name Wire story about Chicago2016.com. The battle over Chicago2016.com is turning into an olympic-scale battle. Stephen Frayne Jr., who owns Chicago2016.com, has filed a lawsuit to keep the domain name that is currently pending a UDRP decision at WIPO. As noted in Domain Name Wire’s previous article, Chicago 2016’s United States Olympic Committee (USOC) uses Chicago2016.org as its web site. In the lawsuit, Frayne argues USOC is violating ... read more ...
Thu 4th September 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
There’s a Lot of B.S. Around BS.com - Domain name at center of lawsuit and WIPO action. The previous owner of BS.com failed to recover the domain in a WIPO arbitration. In a decision dated September 1, the three person panel found that the complainant failed to prove it had a trademark for the term “BS”. But there’s more to the story. The complainant once owned the domain name from 1997 until 2003. In 2003 the domain name was acquired by Hazan Ozdemir. In 2005 the complainant filed a lawsuit ... read more ...
Thu 28th August 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
BMEzine.com Picks adult BME.com in WIPO Dispute - Gregory Ricks loses three character domain name. Long time domainer Gregory Ricks has lost the domain name BME.com to BMEzine.com, LLC. Ricks lost the case because of the content of recent parked pages on the domain and because the panel found that his initial registration in 2000 was not relevant because he transferred the domain between entities since then. BMEzine.com is an ezine about body piercing, tattoos, etc. For the past couple years the domain has shown ... read more ...
Fri 22nd August 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Big Companies Go After .Mobi Domain Names - This stems from this commentary and many you have posted in the past. No matter what the occasion, no matter what little ray of good news there is about .mobi, you have to place your own biased slant on .mobi. It is clear, very clear, that you don’t like it, have no use for it, and don’t care to hear about about it. Yet, it is good for the confrontations and good for the controversies it stirs up therefore good for the rankings. Previously, I also had to ask or remind you to look ... read more ...