Legal News Archives - Page 20 of 94

UDRP Filed Against Picture.com at WIPO

Legal News

August 3, 2020

Late last week, I noticed a UDRP was filed against the generic, high value Picture.com domain name. The UDRP was filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization. It is WIPO Case D2020-2016.

Picture.com was originally created more than 25 years ago – in September of 1994. The domain name is registered under privacy proxy, and it forwards to a purchase inquiry page at Uniregistry Market. In October of 2019, domain investor James Booth announced that his company acquired Picture.com, although it is unclear if his company still owns this valuable asset:

Legal News

Elliot Silver

July 31, 2020

Chalk this one up to something that should be common sense, but I received an email solicitation this morning that made me think it serve some good to share my thoughts. Buying domain names with common trademarks is a bad idea. Sending out email solicitations trying to sell these domain names is an even worse idea.

Legal News

Elliot Silver

July 20, 2020

In late May, a UDRP was filed at WIPO against the seemingly generic CheapStuff.com domain name. The filing was made after the domain name apparently expired and was auctioned on NameJet, where it achieved a sale price of $3,875. The UDRP decision was sent out today, and the respondent won. In addition, a finding of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH) was made. Attorney John Berryhill represented the domain registrant in this proceeding, and the WIPO panelist was John Swinson.

In looking over the decision, I can see the complainant cited the recent Booking.com trademark Supreme Court decision in a supplemental filing. As John mentioned on Twitter, this will likely be a regular occurrence domain registrants will need become accustomed to seeing in UDRP defenses going forward:

Legal News

Elliot Silver

July 10, 2020

In May of this year, I wrote about the filing of a UDRP against the valuable Airy.com domain name. When I saw the filing, I did some cursory research, and I did not see anything that stood out to give the complainant a chance to win the UDRP. The decision was published today, and the panelist ruled the domain registrant could retain the domain name. The panelist also ruled this is a case of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH).

You can read the entire decision to see all of the reasons for why the complainant lost, but I want to highlight two aspects of the decision that stood out to me. The first is that Airy.com was reportedly acquired for $150,000 in 2017. This was supported by a wire transfer receipt to Uniregistar. This sale will now be archived by DNJournal, and it will tie for the 38th largest public domain name sale of 2017. I also added it to the Embrace.com one word .com sale list.

I also want to highlight a paragraph from the the RDNH discussion in the decision. The panel acknowledged the effort and cost to defend this domain name:

GoDaddy
Legal News

Elliot Silver

July 3, 2020

Domain industry attorney Jason Schaeffer reported today that three of his clients received $60,000 offers to buy domain names, and the supposed prospective buyer requested an “appraisal certificate” in order to proceed with a deal.

3 clients this week had $60K offers through GoDaddy. Each appeared to be from Japan requesting an “Appraisal Certificate.” Screen shot of the result: Pay $349 to appraise and verify your domain name. A good way to lose $349. #domaining #domainnames pic.twitter.com/F3wOEKaCIU

— Jason Schaeffer (@TLDadvisor) July 3, 2020

Legal News

Elliot Silver

July 2, 2020

Earlier this week, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Booking.com can be trademarked. The 8-1 decision was a good read, and there was some interesting insight from the opinion. The dissent, written by Justice Stephen Breyer, included some positive language that will likely be referenced by generic .com domain name registrants:

Breyer: “The owner of a generic domain name enjoys these benefits… because she was fortunate (or savvy) enough to be the first to appropriate a particularly valuable piece of online real estate.”

Of course, perhaps she acquired it rather than being the first to register it. https://t.co/t4wCm8Eq6t pic.twitter.com/lyLzQm9te4

— Nat Cohen (@domainarts) June 30, 2020

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Legal News

UDRP Filed Against Picture.com at WIPO

Don’t Email Trademark Domain Names for Sale

RDNH Finding on CheapStuff.com UDRP

Airy.com UDRP: RDNH + Panel Notes Time & Funds Involved in Defense

Nobody Will Request an “Appraisal Certificate”

Differing Opinions on Ramifications of SCOTUS Decision

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