Amazon UDRP Shows Domain Difficulty Brands Face

Elliot Silver
-
2

nafAmazon recently won a UDRP for 42 domain names, and I think the list of domain names really helps to illustrate the trouble with domain name protection that brands face. The UDRP was filed at the National Arbitration Forum, and it is case #1701041. Amazon was represented by Fabricio Vayra of Perkins Coie LLP.

The domain names that were included in this UDRP are all very similar: amazonshippingcenter01.com, amazonshippingcenter02.com, amazonshippingcenter03.com…etc. through amazonshippingcenter42.com. As you can see, all of these domain names have the Amazon brand in them, and it seems to me that they could be potentially used in a manner that would appear to be associated with Amazon. In the single panelist ruling, the domain names have been ordered to be transferred to Amazon.

Although a UDRP win is probably satisfying for the complainant and its legal team, it seems like there could be an endless

Read More

UDRP Record Set at WIPO

Elliot Silver
-
0

wipo-logoLast month, I reported that there appeared to be  more gTLD UDRP cases filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2016 than in 2015. At the time of my article, the highest case # (case filings are in numeric order) was WIPO Case D2016-2392. In my article, I predicted that this year will have the most gTLD UDRP case filings at WIPO than any other year, and it looks like that prediction came  true.

Although it wasn’t exactly a difficult prediction to make based on the rate of filings, it looks like there are now more cases filed in 2016 than there were in 2012, which appears to have had the most filings. In 2012, the highest case number was  D2012-2549. As of this morning, the current case # for 2016 is  D2016-2560, a UDRP filed by Philip Morris USA Inc. against the Marlboro.Press domain name. Unfortunately for Philip Morris, the company is all too familiar with UDRP proceedings  (the company seems to have a tremendous win record though).

I believe the number of UDRP filings at WIPO this year is so high because of

Read More

Company Files UDRP Against 20 Year Old Reformation.com (Updated)

Elliot Silver
-
7

A UDRP was filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) against the generic, 20 year old Reformation.com domain name. The UDRP is WIPO Case D2016-2549.

Reformation.com has a creation date of May 31, 1996, making this domain name 20 years old.  The domain name was privately registered for quite some time, but it came out of privacy in 2014. It looks like the domain name is being used for a website to document news reports of sexual abuse involving ministers.

I looked through Archive.org to see how the domain name was previously used. The first entry was from October of 2002, and it looks like the content on the homepage is very similar to what is being displayed now. Further, there is a hit counter on that entry that shows a start date of 1997. There are various entries between 2002 and 2016, including this, this, and this, and all of those entries show  a similar looking website. On the bottom left of the website it says, “UPDATED AS OF AUGUST 2003.” It would seem that

Read More

Why Are There 2 Network Solutions “Under Construction” Pages?

Elliot Silver
-
5

Last week, I reported that there was a UDRP filed against the Oger.com domain name. One potential issue for the domain name owner is that the “under construction” landing page had pay per click (PPC) links prominently displayed next to a large photo. The owner smartly began forwarding the domain name elsewhere (likely after becoming aware of the landing page), but here’s how it looked:

oger-com-landing-page

My guess is the owner was not receiving any of the revenue generated on clicks. If that assumption is correct, this means the landing page adds risk to the owner without any reward that I can see.

Yesterday afternoon, I saw that a

Read More

UDRP Filed Against Oger.com (Updated)

Elliot Silver
-
4

oger-com-udrp

A UDRP has been filed against the Oger.com domain name at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). This UDRP is WIPO Case D2016-2488.

Oger.com was created back in 1998. The domain name is registered to an entity called Oger Investments, and the domain registrant’s address is in Australia. Acc0rding to a website called AUCompany.org, there is an Australian company called Oger Investments, Pty., which the website says was incorporated in 1997.

Using DomainTools’ Whois History Tool, I looked back through the years, and it appears this same registrant has owned the domain name for quite some time. In fact, the first archived Whois record is from 2001, and it shows the registrant as Oger Investments. It is very possible that this domain name has been owned by the same entity even before that.

When I visited Oger.com this morning, I was taken to what appears to be a  registrar-controlled “under construction” page. One issue, perhaps, is the links on the under construction page are clothing related. Because the domain registrant doesn’t control those links nor generates revenue from them (to my knowledge), it would be unfortunate if this played a role in the decision.

The UDRP complaint was

Read More

A Domain Name Could be Too Generic

Elliot Silver
-
15

I exclusively buy domain names that I deem generic / descriptive. These are common words or phrases that are meaningful to people who use them and the customers that visit their websites. One downside for prospective buyers of descriptive keyword domain names is that they may be too generic.

I was in a negotiation with a buyer’s agent during the past week or so, and the prospective buyer opted to not buy my one word .com domain name. The buyer’s agent told me the reason the company passed was its lawyers advised them that the company would have a very difficult time registering the trademark they would need because of the broad usage of the keyword in the market. Essentially, there were so many other companies using this keyword in their businesses, that the prospective buyer might not be able to get trademark protection.

There are many great reasons for why a strong keyword domain name can be great for a business. There are also quite a few big brands that use keyword .com domain names as their brand, including Hotels.com, Cars.com, Apartments.com, Diapers.com, Soap.com…etc.

Even as someone without a

Read More
1...525354...95Page 53 of 95