Legal News

IEE.com Subject of UDRP (Updated)

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A UDRP was filed against the valuable 3 letter IEE.com domain name. The UDRP was filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It is WIPO Case D2020-1707.

IEE.com was created in September of 1995, making the domain name nearly 25 years old. The domain name is being used as a website for a business called Equipment Engineering Services P.A. The current Whois record shows the domain name is registered to an entity called Imaging and Equipment Engineering, which explains the IEE abbreviation.

UDRP Resources from the ICA

On occasion, I receive emails from domain registrants who have either received a UDRP notice from WIPO or NAF or have been threatened with a UDRP filing. I know a fair amount of information about the UDRP, but I do not have the legal expertise necessary to offer actionable advice about responding to a UDRP or a legal threat.

When I am asked for advice, I typically suggest that the person reach out to a domain name attorney who can offer professional advice on the threat or legal filing. There are a handful of attorneys who I have sought out advice from over the years, including John Berryhill, Jason Schaeffer, Zak Muscovitch, Stevan Lieberman, and Brett Lewis (apologies to anyone I have forgotten), depending on the circumstances.

CheapStuff.com UDRP Follows $3,875 NameJet Sale

A UDRP was filed against the CheapStuff.com domain name at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The UDRP is WIPO Case D2020-1354, and it appears to have been filed within the past couple of days.

To me, CheapStuff.com seems like a pretty generic domain name that could be used to sell “cheap stuff.” Likely because of the potential usage for this descriptive domain name, CheapStuff.com sold for $3,875 at NameJet in March of this year, according to NameBio. Based on the “pendingrenewalordeletion@networksolutions.com” email address in the historical Whois record at DomainTools from February 26th, it appears to have been an expiry auction. In fact, CheapStuff.com was promoted by NameJet in its newsletter, even earning the honor of being one of two domain names listed in the email subject:

Airy.com Subject of UDRP (Updated)


Airy.com is a valuable 4 letter and one word .com domain name. A company filed a UDRP against Airy.com at the World Intellectual Property Organization. It is WIPO case D2020-1119.

Airy.com has an October of 2003 creation date, making the domain name nearly 17 years old. Airy.com is currently registered at Uniregistry, but the only part of the Whois record I can see is “Registrant State/Province: SINGAPORE.” The domain name had been registered under Whois privacy at Uniregistry for several years before.

SCOTUS Hearing: Booking.com

Because of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments via teleconference for the first time in its history. On the docket before SCOTUS is the Booking.com trademark, where Booking.com seeks trademark protection for its brand, which is comprised of a generic term and the .com domain name extension. The case has been followed closely by many people in the domain name business, but particularly industry attorneys:

RDNH Finding on Dagostino.com UDRP

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D’Agostino Supermarkets filed a UDRP against Dagostino.com at the National Arbitration Forum (NAF). The decision was published this morning, and the New York City based supermarket chain lost the UDRP. In addition, the three member panel ruled that this was a case of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH). The domain registrant was represented by Brett Lewis of Lewis & Lin.

The UDRP failed for a number of reasons, including the fact that “Respondent by competent evidence demonstrated that “D’Agostino” is her family name.” In fact, the domain registrant also showed that her father was the original registrant of the domain name and used it for his business until transferring it to the current registrant in 2006. That alone was almost certainly enough evidence needed to win the UDRP. The fact that D’Agostino is also a relatively widely used surname was also a factor in the decision.

I think there are a couple of noteworthy excerpts in the decision for investors to note:

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