Gekko.com UDRP: Complaint Denied

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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):

UDRP Filed Against Patricks.com (Updated)

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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

Be Cautious About Giving Prices

I regularly receive price requests for domain names I own, but I don’t always give prices when asked. One of the major reasons why I am sometimes reluctant to give a price is that I don’t want a “prospect” to take my price and try to sell my domain name to someone else before he or she buys it.

I’ll share a hypothetical example with you:

Let’s say someone asks me about the price of [Example].com, and I give the person a price of $10,000. This person can then go out and try to find a buyer for [Example].com at a higher price than I quoted. If he is successful, he will buy the domain name from me and immediately flip it to his buyer. If he is not successful, either because he can’t find a buyer at a higher price or he is caught in the act, he will disappear without much of a trace. Aside from reputational damage, there is little risk for this person for doing something I believe is unethical.

Some people might say that there is nothing much wrong with this approach. In theory, the original seller gets his asking price and the buyer makes a profit on the resale. All parties are theoretically happy. Unfortunately, there is a major risk

UDRP Filed Against First Name Domain Meryl.com (Updated)

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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

James Harden Files UDRP for JamesHarden.com

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It appears that NBA basketball star James Harden has filed a UDRP for the  JamesHarden.com domain name. The complainant in the UDRP proceeding is listed as “James Harden,” so I am not certain that the UDRP was filed by the Houston Rockets player, but I would assume that he is the complainant. This case was filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization, and it is WIPO Case D2016-0519.

JamesHarden.com is registered to a registrant that has a Texas address. The domain name has a creation date of April 4, 2013. A Whois History search using DomainTools shows that the domain name had been previously registered as far back as 2006. Most interestingly (to me anyway), the domain name had been registered to the National Basketball Players Association back in 2010, according to the DomainTools Whois history tool. In April of 2013, DomainTools shows the domain name went into pending delete status.

If the UDRP was filed by James Harden the basketball player, it may

UDRP Filed on ETH.com (Update)

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ETH.com UDRP

The three letter ETH.com domain name is the subject of a new UDRP proceeding at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The case is WIPO Case D2016-0444. According to NameBio, ETH.com previously sold in 2008 for nearly $20,000.

The complainant is listed as ETH Zürich (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich). I have never heard of this organization / company prior to seeing the UDRP filing. I did a Google search for a company with that name, and I believe this company uses the ethz.ch ccTLD domain name for its website.

I did a Whois search for ETH.com, and it shows that the registrant is a Brazilian entity called