According to an article in the Milwaukee Business Journal, Vanity Shop filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this past March. Following this filing, Hilco Streambank has been retained to sell the Vanity Shop assets, which includes the valuable Vanity.com domain name.
Thank you to all our loyal customers. It is with heavy hearts that we will be saying goodbye… but not just yet…. https://t.co/B5zJx9U2lv
— Vanity (@MyVanityStyle_) March 2, 2017
Hilco Streambank Executive VP Jack Hazan told me “the assets include the Vanity trademark for apparel, retail and accessories and the premium one-word domain name – Vanity.com.” Hilco set up a marketing page on its website that has more details about what is included in the sale as well as some detailed information about the company and its background.
When I received the email from Jack, the first thing that stuck out to me was the Vanity.com domain name. As you may recall, Vanity.com was involved in a 2012 UDRP dispute. When the decision was published and the panel ruled in favor of the complainant (Vanity Shop), Mike Berkens wrote an article about it and called it “a case that should be VERY troubling for all domain holders.” He also wrote that “the domain holder already filed a case in Federal Court asking for a declaratory judgement that is was not infringing on the complainant’s trademark.” I am not sure what happened with the litigation, but Vanity Shop now owns the domain name and it is for sale in this bankruptcy auction.
For more information about the sale and bidding procedures, visit Hilco Streambank’s website or get in touch with Jack Hazan. Bids are due on July 19th. In my opinion, Vanity.com alone is probably worth six figures, not considering any of its history. It will be interesting to see if an entity purchases the entire business and relaunches Vanity.com or if Vanity.com will be used by another brand in the future.
Ecclesiastes 1 comes to mind 😀
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1&version=ESV
Righteous ending to the story? Theo 🙂
Wow, I read the Mike Berkens posting and comments, and it was very interesting. I wonder what the possible UDRP consequences are for somebody who buys this domain/trademark and then uses it for a site different than the trademark? I know a lot about trademarks, but I don’t know much about buying them. If somebody buys the domain and turns it, for example, into a site where people can post selfies, I assume the existing trademark would no longer protect the domain.
Trademark is included: https://domaininvesting.com/hilco-streambank-announces-stalking-horse-bidder-vanity-com/
Yes, I know, my point is that the Vanity.com trademark only covers an online clothing store (I looked it up). So I assume if the domain is used for anything not related to that, the trademark would no longer cover it.