RDNH Finding in GlobalVision.com UDRP

Elliot Silver
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Sometimes when I see a UDRP filing, my first thought is that the domain name seems very generic. This is what I thought when I saw the GlobalVision.com UDRP filing at the National Arbitration Forum (NAF), and it looks like the panelist agreed. This is case # FA1804001783819.

From the opening discussion about the domain name and its history provided by the respondent (domain registrant), it seemed pretty inevitable that the owner would retain the domain name. Here’s what the registrant said:

“Complainant’s GLOBAL VISION is made up of common, generic terms and Complainant may not maintain an exclusive monopoly on such terms.

Respondent has rights and legitimate interests in the domain name dating back to February 22, 1995, when Respondent registered the domain name. The domain name is used by an existing, active company.”

The panelist’s findings section confirms this and also mentions that the complainant tried to buy the domain name in 2016 but was unsuccessful:

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USPS on a UDRP Spree

Elliot Silver
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1

It looks like the United States Postal Service (USPS) is on a UDRP filing spree. A search of pending UDRP filings at the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) shows 11 UDRP filings that have been made recently. These 11 UDRPs include nearly 40 domain names. Some of the domain names involved in the USPS UDRP filings include:

  • uspsx.com
  • usps.sale
  • uspsglobal.com
  • uspstrackingservice.com
  • usps-nlu.com
  • usps.info
  • usps.site

It is no surprise, but it looks like all of the domain names have USPS in them, so the Postal Service seems to be protecting its marks. I find it interesting that the USPS paid

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Crypto World Journal Goes After CWJ.com via UDRP (Updated)

Elliot Silver
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A company called Crypto World Journal Inc. has filed a UDRP against the high value three letter CWJ.com domain name. The UDRP was filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization, where it is WIPO Case D2018-1207.

CWJ.com was originally created in March of 1999. The registrant of this domain name appears to be based in China. Using DomainTools’ Whois History tool, I looked through quite a few historical Whois records for this domain name to see the provenance. Because of Whois privacy that was enabled for quite some time, I am unable to tell when the registrant acquired this domain name. It looks like it moved to the current (China-based) domain registrar in December of 2016.

When I visited CWJ.com this morning, the domain name

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List of Registrars Showing Public Whois After GDPR

Elliot Silver
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GDPR went into effect last week. Even though GDPR is a European Union data protection and privacy regulation that does not cover Americans or other people who are not EU citizens, some domain registrars totally eliminated public Whois lookup information to ensure they do not violate GDPR regulations and potentially expose themselves to serious penalties.

I have found that some domain name registrars have not eliminated public Whois lookups and Whois information, and I want to share what I found with you. This is certainly not an exhaustive list of registrars, and as far as I can tell, Whois information is only publicly available for registrants who do not have a European presence. I used a combination of registrar Whois searches, ICANN whois searches, and DomainTools Whois searches to see which registrars are blocking information and which are still showing information.

I invite you to share the name of registrars that are not using something like “Data Protected” for Whois lookups as you find them.

Registrars still showing Whois information after GDPR implementation:

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RDNH Finding in SmartSearch .com UDRP

Elliot Silver
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When you think of the term (or brand) “smart search,” what company immediately comes to mind? For me, no company comes to mind, and it seems like a pretty generic term. A California company called Advanced Personnel Systems, Inc. filed a UDRP against the SmartSearch.com domain name at the National Arbitration Forum. The complainant lost the UDRP, and a finding of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH) was made.

I think that it has been well established that a domain name owner can put pay per click parking links on a domain name landing page as long as the domain name is generic in nature. The SmartSearch.com UDRP complaint failed because the panel found that the domain name owner was using the domain name in a legitimate manner. Here’s what the panel wrote about PPC parking in this UDRP decision:

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Following Accusation, Electrum Goes After Electrum.com via UDRP

Elliot Silver
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I noticed a UDRP was filed against the Electrum.com domain name, which was initially created back in 1996. The UDRP was filed by Thomas Voegtlin, the creator of what a cryptocurrency wallet service called Electrum, which uses Electrum.org for its website. It appears that the Electrum wallet has existed since 2011. The UDRP is WIPO Case D2018-1088.

When I visited Electrum.com to see what may have prompted the UDRP filing, there was an interesting message at the top:

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