10 Day Old Domain Subject of UDRP (Updated)

I am occasionally critical of companies for waiting a long time to file a UDRP proceeding. I am especially critical of companies who file UDRPs on descriptive/generic domain names that are aged. On the other hand, a company recently filed a UDRP on a domain name that was less than 10 days old.

UBSBS.com is now the subject of a UDRP proceeding at the National Arbitration Forum. It is NAF case number 1701732. UBSBS.com was created on October 31, 2016, which is ten days ago. The domain name appears to be registered to someone in Ghana. The domain name was previously registered before, but it appears to have expired in 2012 before being re-registered recently. Interestingly, back in 2010, the domain name was registered to an entity called UBS Business Solution, according to the DomainTools Whois History tool.

When I visited the domain name, I saw that there is a logo that says “UBSBS Swiss Private Bank” in the upper left corner. In addition, on the about page, it says “UBSBS Private Bank is a Swiss private banking boutique with 30 years of expertise in wealth management. We provide first-class financial services to private clients and wealthy families from our headquarters in Zurich, and our branches and representative offices in the world.” There even seems to be a link to an account log-in page.

Because the NAF does not report the complainant prior to a decision being rendered, my guess would be that UBS, the international financial services company, filed the UDRP. It looks like UBS has filed UDRP complaints before at both the World Intellectual Property Organization and at NAF, so my guess is that the company is protecting its brand by filing this UDRP.

Assuming it was UBS that filed the UDRP, I can see why the company would be concerned if the domain name is not registered to the company or one of its affiliated entities.

Update: In a quick decision, the UDRP was decided in favor of the complainant.