A UDRP was just filed against the valuable three letter JAT.com domain name at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The UDRP filing is case #D2017-1986.
JAT.com was originally registered in March of 1997, making this domain name more than twenty years old. At the time of publication, JAT.com is registered under privacy proxy at GoDaddy, so I am not sure who owns the domain name. When I visited JAT.com to see how the domain name is being used, I see a coming soon page that says, “jat.com is almost here! Upload your website to get started.”
The complainant in this UDRP is Air Serbia a.d. Beograd Jurija. According to the airline’s Wikipedia page, the company was previously known as Jat Airways. When I did a Whois History search at DomainTools, I noticed that the company appears to have previously owned the domain name. In 2015, the admin name was Air Serbia, according to DomainTools. It looks like the predecessor to Air Serbia was the registrant of the domain name since at least 2001, which is the earliest Whois History record at DomainTools (the domain name was registered to Jugoslovenski Aerotransport back then). Up until at least February of this year, JAT.com forwarded to AirSerbia.com, according to Archive.org.
What is unclear to me is what happened later. It looks like the Whois information changed sometime in 2016, and earlier this year, it looks like the domain name may have gone into an expired status. In April of this year, the domain name’s admin organization was listed as Go Daddy Redemption Services (according to DomainTools). I looked at NameBio, and I don’t see a sale record. I also didn’t see any listings for an auction for JAT.com anywhere, so I don’t believe it sold at GoDaddy Auctions. Shortly after this, the domain name registration information became private.
There have been quite a few UDRP filings against LLL.com domain names this year. Almost all of those decisions have gone in favor of the domain name owners. I won’t even speculate about this one because of the strange history of this domain name. I will await the decision to learn what happened with JAT.com and why the company filed this UDRP.
Logo is from the Jat Airways Wikipedia page.
Update: According to the WIPO website, the complaint was denied. Once the decision is published, I will update the article or publish an additional article if warranted.
From all the info provided and the whois history, it appears that the domain might be stolen and the original registrant (JAT airline) is trying to get it back.
If it is stolen, let’s hope the UDRP process works for the Complainant.
Looks like some kind of internal ‘drama’ at Air Serbia. The domain was in the possession of Vukasin Smiljanic, with an AirSerbia.com email address https://www.facebook.com/vukasin.smiljanic.5
Then, on January 23, 2016 it changes to a free Europe.com email address, which might have since been discontinued.
It then went into redemption at GoDaddy in March of this year. Amazingly, it has remained alive but behind privacy WHOIS. It’s quite possible that there was an unlawful renewal and takeover of the domain at that point.
Using a UDRP to reclaim it might work, based on the historical facts of JAT becoming Air Serbia and their use of the domain until 2015 at least.
Decision rendered: The domain will remain with its registrant.