Legal News

Edouard Tries to Wrest Control of Edouard.com from Edouard

A UDRP was filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) against the Edouard.com domain name. The complainant in the UDRP is listed as Edouard Lombard. This is WIPO Case D2022-2065.

Edouard.com was created in 1998 – nearly 25 years ago. The domain name does not currently resolve to an active website, and the Whois record shows “Statutory Masking Enabled” as the domain registrant due to GDPR regulations. Historical Whois records at DomainTools show the domain name was owned by a person named Edouard as recently as May of 2018 before GDPR masking of the Whois record.

ODK Decision Notable for NFT Owners

Attorney John Berryhill represented a complainant in a UDRP decision that I think could be of importance for people who are in the NFT investment space. An open source software company called ODK filed a UDRP against the ODKCentral.com domain name. The complainant in the UDRP won and will take possession of the domain name. The decision was published this morning.

The issue is related to the usage of the ODK branding in the domain name. Despite the fact that the software is open source, there are no rights granted for others to use the ODK branding in domain names. Notable, from the decision:

Skill.com UDRP Denied

When the Skill.com UDRP filing was published, John Berryhill shared some thoughts on why he thought the UDRP would fail. His analysis was based on information that he was able to find publicly, so there was a chance additional information would be revealed that would change the perception of the filing.

Yesterday afternoon, I noticed WIPO updated its website to show that a decision had been reached in the UDRP. I was very surprised to see the decision was a “Transfer,” particularly since there were three panelists deciding the case:

France.com, Inc. Files UDRP Against France.com

The battle over the France.com domain name was fought in a variety of legal settings, and it appears to be headed to another venue. A UDRP has been filed against France.com at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It is WIPO Case D2022-1780.

The complainant in this UDRP is France.com, Inc. The current registrant of France.com is the French government. France.com currently forwards to the France.fr ccTLD, which hosts a tourism-focused website related to the country of France.

RDNH Finding without a Response to UDRP

I think having a good life is the goal for most people. Who doesn’t want to have a good life? A UDRP was filed against the generic-sounding GoodLife.com domain name at WIPO. Unfortunately, seeing a UDRP filed against a valuable domain name like GoodLife.com is not a surprise. The UDRP decision, however, was surprising to me.

For whatever reason, the domain registrant did not file a response to the UDRP. Generally speaking, this does not bode well for the registrant because the complainant can say what it wants without a rebuttal from the registrant. In this UDRP proceeding, not only did the complainant lose, but the panelist ruled this was a case of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking. The UDRP panelist on this case was Assen Alexiev.

The UDRP was unsuccessful because the panelist found the domain name was not registered and used in bad faith. This is a requirement of the UDRP to succeed. Here’s what the panelist wrote in that section of the UDRP:

John Berryhill Shares Thoughts About ENS TM Infringement

3

John Berryhill is an Intellectual Property attorney who specializes in domain name law. Last night, John posted a Twitter thread regarding trademark infringement, specifically related to ENS domain names. In the thread, John shared some thoughts about the potential issues that may come with owning ENS domain names that infringe on trademarks and brands.

Obviously, every domain name is unique, and there may be unique circumstances related to each domain name registration. Reading John’s thread would be a good idea for people who own ENS domain names that could potentially match well-known brand names and trademarks:

Recent Posts

Questions Related to Uni —> Afternic Parking Migration

5
If you are a Uniregistry customer, you most likely received an email explaining the upcoming migration of the Uniregistry Market and parking platform to...

Some Uni-Registered New gTLDs Will be Transferred to 1API

2
I received an email from Uni (formerly Uniregistry) that I initially thought was a Whois verification email and almost ignored. It was, in fact,...

Advice and Resources for a Newbie Domain Investor

2
Someone reached out to me on Twitter seeking advice for selling domain names. In a short tweet thread, I shared a few thoughts and...

AI.com Now Forwarding to ChatGPT Website

1
Early this morning, Andy Booth tweeted about AI.com, asking if the domain name was acquired by ChatGPT. Andy presumably asked because the AI.com domain...

Markmonitor Highlights Job Openings

0
Last week, GoDaddy layoffs impacted 8% of its workforce around the world. I am sure there are quite a few experienced people seeking new...