legal

"Facebook has filed a lawsuit (pdf) against New Ventures Services Corp (NVSC) for alleged cybersquatting of its brands, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. NVSC is a Web.com subsidiary that holds domain names for traffic revenue and resale. It gets many of its domain names by...

A company called Dribbble (notice the 3 “b’s” in its branding) filed a UDRP to try and wrest control of the Dribble.com domain name, which had been owned by the registrant since 1997. As I suspected when I saw the initial UDRP filing, the domain owner won the UDRP proceeding and will be allowed...

Domain owners fight back in court before UDRP is decided. Last Month Wolf Steel, which markets fireplaces under the brand name Napoleon, filed a UDRP cybersquatting dispute against the domain name napoleon.com. The owners of the domain name are fighting back with a lawsuit. Emmet Stephenson...

A long-time battle to remove Backpage.com from the Internet has ended with the indictments of ownership and government seizure of its domain Backpage.com, which hosted a popular online classifieds site similar to Craigslist which allegedly was used heavily by escorts and massage providers...

Court enters default judgment and domain is transferred back to the prior owner. In November I wrote about a lawsuit for Roxi.com. The owner of the domain name since 1999 claimed the domain name was stolen from him after his email account was compromised. Although this apparently happened back...

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It seems that UDRP filings have been increasing every year, and 2017 was no different. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is the largest UDRP provider. Yesterday evening, WIPO published a reportabout UDRP filings in 2017, and I wanted to share some of the facts with you. 2017...

Dispute between two parties over Viking.com domain name is clearly outside the confines of UDRP. A World Intellectual Property Organization panel has determined that Office Depot’s ownership of Viking.com does not constitute cybersquatting. It also found that the complainant Aurelius RHO GTM...

Dribble.com was registered over 20 years ago in 1997, and the domain name is registered to a company in Minnesota. Using DomainTools Historical Whois tool, I was able to see the Whois record as far back as 2002, and it looks like the same entity owned the domain name back then. When I visited...

Company provides the evidence that panel used to dismiss the dispute. Insurance company AXA has lost a cybersquatting complaint it brought against the domain name axa.org. The owner of the domain name did not respond to the complaint, yet AXA itself provided the evidence necessary for the...

Infertility company fails in cybersquatting claim for IVI.com. A World Intellectual Property Organization panel has ruled against Spanish infertility medical company Equipo IVI SL in a dispute over the domain name IVI.com. Equipo IVI argued that WebMD was cybersquatting by owning the domain...

Marathon Savings Bank lost a UDRP for MarathonBank.com, so it’s trying a federal lawsuit instead. Marathon Savings Bank, located in Wisconsin, has sued (pdf) Affordable Webhosting, Inc. for cybersquatting after losing a UDRP to get the domain name MarathonBank.com. The bank uses the domain name...

Domaining.com owner sues to retain ownership of Ado.com and asks for a finding of reverse domain name hijacking. Francois Carrillo, the owner of domain blog aggregator Domaining.com, has sued (pdf) Mexican bus company Autobuses dr Oriente ADO, S.A. de C.V. after a UDRP panel ordered his domain...

Panel orders three-letter domain to be transferred to Mexican bus company. A three-member World Intellectual Property Organization panel has ordered the domain name Ado.com transferred in a bad UDRP decision. The domain name is owned by Francois Carrillo, the owner of domain blog aggregator...

Ritz-Carlton complained that the domain, RitzCarltonYachtCollection.com, was registered just after the hotel announced its plans to offer luxury yacht experiences under the name The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection on June 22 2017. The company did register the hyphenated version –...

A UDRP was filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over the Rioja.com domain name. According to Vivino.com, “Rioja is arguably Spain’s top wine region and is one of only two regions classified under the Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOCa) system. Its two most...

Here’s what domain investors would like to see happen during the review of the UDRP. For the first time in the 18 years since it was introduced, the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) regarding cybersquatting is being reviewed. This is an issue for domain name investors to watch. Expect...

Another bad ICANN decision is out that will protect some privileged IGOs and INGOs and the “beloved” International Olympic Committee (IOC). Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement (RCRC), the only organization that might have warranted some additional protection, is there just to make the decision...

As the saying goes, actions [always] speak louder than words. I came across some material today on Circle ID that certainly merits some highlighting; reason being, all domainers should know about it. A Re-Examination of the Defense of Laches After 18 Years of the UDRP, by Internet Commerce...

A couple of days ago, I noticed that DigitalCandy.com was in pending delete status and headed to auction. DigitalCandy.com is a domain name that previously (up until deletion) was home to a website operated by intellectual property attorney Stevan Lieberman of Greenberg and Lieberman. When I...