Legal News

A UDRP was filed against the Gekko.com domain name, which had a creation date of July 24, 2001. The UDRP was filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization, and it is listed as Case No. D2016-0362. According to Wikipedia, a “Gekko is a genus of colorful and diverse Southeast Asian geckos commonly known as true geckos or calling geckos.”

The complainant operates a boating company with the name Gekko, and it looks like that company presently uses GekkoSports.com for its website. The respondent apparently operates a company with the same name in a different market, and the domain name is currently parked. The UDRP decision was published this morning, and the complaint was denied. Most interestingly, both the complainant and respondent were self-represented.

There are a few aspects of the decision I would like to call out as I found them most interesting (all are found in the Rights or Legitimate Interests section of the decision):

A UDRP has been filed against the Patricks.com domain name. The complainant is listed as a company called Patricks Universal Export Pty Ltd. The UDRP was filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization, and it is WIPO Case D2016-0653.

A Whois record shows that Patricks.com was originally registered in December of 1997. The domain name is currently parked, and I presently see advertising related to family tree, genealogical records, and other advertising links related to family history. It looks like many other extensions are also registered with the keyword “patricks,” not including other domain names that have the word “patricks” in them. Interestingly, Patricks.net is a website for a locksmith called Patrick’s and Patricks.org is a website for a band called Saint Patricks Pipe Band.

Historical Whois records dating back to as far as 2001 show a registrant with the same address and last name as the current registrant. It is very likely that

This morning, I published an article about a working group that ICANN created to potentially reform the UDRP and URS processes. This afternoon, I noticed that a UDRP was filed against the Meryl.com domain name. The UDRP complainant is listed as  NYLSTAR S.A., and the UDRP was filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It is WIPO Case D2016-0561.

Most people would probably associate the name Meryl with popular actress Meryl Streep, winner of  three Academy Awards and other accolades. Although the first name “Meryl” has not been in the top 1,000 baby names for the last few decades, the US Social Security Administration shows that Meryl was in the top 1,000 baby names in the 1940s and 1950s. It seems to have reached a peak in 1952, where it was #752 on the list. This means that there are quite a few women named Meryl who are in their 60s today.

I did a Google search for the complainant’s name and “Meryl” and found that it appears to be a