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 prove to be a difficult UDRP for the domain owner to defend. At the present time, the domain name is parked at Sedo and there are basketball related links on the landing page. In fact, some of the links on JamesHarden.com actually say “James Harden.” I presume that clicking on them would yield additional basketball related links, although I did not click on any of them to test. There is also a link that says “The domain jamesharden.com may be for sale by its owner!” and clicking it takes the visitor to a Sedo offer page.
If it is the NBA basketball player who filed the UDRP, it would be interesting to learn why the domain name was let go by the NBA Players Association. It’s very possible it was some sort of slip up that allowed the domain name to expire. With Mr. Harden’s salary and large Adidas endorsement deal, I am sure the UDRP fee (if it was his filing) is no big deal.
Celebrity UDRP cases are not always cut and dry, so it will be interesting to see if he prevails. One recent UDRP case that went in favor of the complainant was the UDRP for KhloeKardashian.com, which was won by Khloe Kardashian. That domain name is now forwarding to Ms. Kardashian’s website.
Not the first time this email is associated with a UDRP
http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/search/text.jsp?case=D2013-1313
this email is associated with over 17,000 domain names
http://dotweekly.com/company-domain-movers-apple-ford/
Funny thing is Khole is his ex gf, probably the root, and cause of this action.
Funny thing is James Harden is not even a good player. Having him as a number #1 option is blocking his team from advancing.
IMO: Why I think this? With the Rockets ready to win against the Warriors in Game 2 of Western Conference Finals, Harden hogged the ball, eliminated his teammates from possibly scoring and lost the ball when Curry and Thompson trapped him. All the Rockets needs was at least 1 point to go into OT or 2 to win. They got nothing.
Harden vowed his team would win Game 3. What happened? They went down by as much as 30+ points and went down 3-0. Harden had a bad game. Can’t back up his play.
Harden is a horrible player for his team. It doesn’t matter how many points he scores in a game or per game, he is not a good player. Was better as a role player at OKC. With Harden, OKC would easily win a title.
“Needed”
Good luck on winning his name in this UDRP. IMO, his domain name is meaningless to me. Why would any person want to own this domain? Better to own a meaningful name.
IMO: Never liked James Harden. He’s always hogging the ball. Their current record proves his second leading scorer status has no impact on their success. The Rockets are a bottom tier team with Harden. Will never reach the Finals with a selfish player like Harden.