I was chatting with a friend last week, and he asked about how business has been for me during the pandemic. Thankfully, business has been fairly strong, all things considered. Discussing things at a high level, I told them business had been moderately slow for me in the early Spring but it bounced back in July. While it is unusual for me to see very strong sales numbers in July, it is not unusual to have ebbs and flows throughout the year.
A UDRP was filed against the 4 letter DSPA.com domain name at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and the decision was published today. The case was decided in favor of the domain registrant, a domain investor who owns a valuable portfolio of domain names. The 3 member WIPO panel ruled this was a case of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH). Attorney John Berryhill represented the domain registrant in the proceeding.
The complainant in the dispute was a company called DSPA B.V., which uses the DSPA.nl ccTLD domain name for its business. According to the decision, the complainant had owned the domain name several years ago, and the registrant acquired it in an expiry auction. Coincidentally, I was one of the four underbidders in this 2017 auction on NameJet.
In this decision, the panel once again acknowledged that domain investors have a legitimate right to register short acronym domain names as investments:
The Canadian International Internet Dispute Resolution Centre (CIIDRC) is hosting a webinar that might be of interest to domain investors. How to Win a UDRP Dispute is a free webinar featuring the Hon Neil Brown QC, Barry Penner QC, and John Rogers, C. Arb. as its keynote speakers. The webinar was announced on the CIIDRC Twitter account:
#CIIDRC Webinar Register Today – ciidrc@bcicac.com pic.twitter.com/YWQePFBxQP
— CIIDRC (@ciidrc) August 11, 2020
Andrew Allemann wrote about the DownPat.com UDRP, which was decided in favor of the domain registrant who acquired the domain name via GoDaddy Auctions for $861. Although the domain registrant won the UDRP in a decision I agree with, I think what happened to the complainant really stinks.
In looking at the Whois History at DomainTools, I see DownPat.com was previously registered to NameFind, the domain name portfolio company owned and operated by GoDaddy. The domain name appears to have been acquired by GoDaddy when it acquired Michael Berkens’ portfolio several years ago.
A UDRP was filed against the high value 1919.com domain name at the National Arbitration Forum (NAF). The complainant in the UDRP is a company called 1919, LLC, and the domain registrant did not respond to the UDRP. The UDRP was decided by a single panelist, The Honourable Neil Anthony Brown QC, and the UDRP was decided in favor of the complainant.
At a quick glance, I was surprised to see the complainant prevail, despite the fact that the registrant did not file a response to the proceeding. I don’t recall many other UDRP cases involving short numeric domain names that were decided in favor of a complainant.
After reading the decision, there was a key finding from the panelist that likely weighed heavily on the decision:
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