A three person World Intellectual Property Organization has awarded the domain name Hayward.com to pool company Hayward Industries in one of the most ridiculous rulings that should turn heads for anyone involved in the domaining business.
The domain name is owned by Chad Wright (WebQuest, Inc.), a domain investor known for owning popular California city .coms. Besides being the name of a popular pool company, Hayward is a city in the San Francisco Bay area.
The reasoning behind the panels decision needs to be reconsidered:
Finally, the Panel finds it informative – though not decisive – that, according to documents in the record, Respondent purchased the domain name hayward.com for USD$20,000 and was attempting to sell it for at least USD$100,000. These figures would seem to indicate that Respondent saw some value in this domain name for reasons other than its existence as the name of the city of Hayward, California – with a population of only about 150,000 people, according to the city’s website – and for purposes other than as a PPC parking page (which, in the normal course, would not be expected to earn a return to justify such a rich investment)
So basically these three "panelists" have decided to put a value as to what is an acceptable monetary figure for the domain - which is a grave error and a dangerous precedence to set. You can read further details along with comments
here.
Latest news is that Chad Wright (WebQuest, Inc.) is challenging the decision. Hope he wins his rights back!
Here is the original complaint.
Here is the challenge.
Interesting to see how this case will pan out - and could possibly set a precedence for future geo domains.
Regards,
Hayward.com - Ridiculous Court Decision
Re: Hayward.com - Ridiculous Court Decision
