Over the Summer, an article was published on Quartz referencing the Hims.com domain name and how it was reportedly being used at the time:
“Earlier this week, internet users noticed that the hims.com domain name redirected to viagra.com, prompting a theory that Pfizer had nabbed the domain. The theory now appears to be unfounded (hims.com now curiously redirects to menshealth.com), but Pfizer is still right to feel the heat. After 20 years of patent-protection on Sildenafil (ED competitors like Cialis and Levitra use other active ingredients), generic alternatives like Hims have flooded the market in the past year.”
When I visited Hims.com today, I was forwarded to Google.com.
According to the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) website and also seen on UDRPSearch, a UDRP was filed against the Hims.com domain name. Because of the venue where the UDRP was filed, the complainant in this UDRP will not be publicly reported until the conclusion of the proceeding. The filing is listed as case #1810653.
The “hims” company that was referenced as a competitor to Pfizer uses the ForHims.com domain name for its website. Here’s how that company describes itself: “hims is a one-stop shop for men’s wellness and personal care providing medical grade solutions for men’s hair loss, ED, skin care, and more.” LinkedIn shows that this company was founded in 2017.
Assuming the UDRP was filed by this company (which is not a given), the founding date could doom its chances of succeeding in this UDRP. In order to win a UDRP, a complainant must prove the domain name was registered and is being used in bad faith. Hims.com has been registered since 1997 – nearly 20 years before the company was founded. From what I can see using the Whois History tool at DomainTools, the name has been registered privately for several years. Assuming the same registrant has had it since before hims was founded, I don’t see how the complainant could prove the domain name was registered in bad faith.
I will be keeping my eye on this UDRP because Hims.com is a short, fairly valuable acronym domain name – some may even say it is a one word .com domain name. It is even possible that another company with the same name or acronym filed the UDRP. For instance, HIMS, Inc. uses Hims-Inc.com for its website and there’s an Arizona company called HiMS that uses HiMSFirst.com for its website. There are quite a few other companies and organizations that could have conceivably filed the UDRP.
Update: The complaint was denied and the registrant will be able to keep this domain name.
I will certainly be standing at attention awaiting the results!
The first time I saw one of their commercials I thought to myself how shitty that name was. Nobody ever uses the word Hims. Its a horrible brand.