It looks like a UDRP was recently filed against the PHHH.com domain name at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The complainant in this case is a company called PHH Corporation, and it is WIPO Case D2015-0825. The registrant of the domain name appears to be located in China.
My first thought is that this is a fairly valuable acronym .com domain name with three repeating letters, especially in today’s market. I visited PHH.com, and it looks like that domain name is owned by PHH Corporation. Assuming this is the same company that filed the UDRP complaint, perhaps the company thinks there would be confusion between PHHH.com and PHH.com. That is more of a guess since the details of this UDRP case aren’t public at this point.
If you visit PHHH.com right now, it seems to be parked on the DomainNameSales.com parking platform. The links I see are geared towards dating. PHH Corporation looks to be a mortgage and financial company. I am not sure how there could be confusion (although the parked links may have changed since the UDRP proceeding).
One thing which is interesting to me is that PHHH.com is listed for sale at Afternic with a buy it now price of $7,000. The UDRP filing fee is $1,500 at WIPO. Obviously, this does not include any legal fees that may be incurred. It seems strange that a UDRP would be filed when the domain name could be bought for $7,000. Should the registrant keep possession of the domain name, the price could increase (I know I would increase my price if I had to pay legal fees to defend a domain name). According to TLDInvestors.com, PHHH.com sold for $438 in April of last year at GoDaddy Auctions.
I don’t really understand why a UDRP was filed on this domain name. Perhaps the facts will provide some more clarity once both parties respond to the UDRP proceeding.
Update: Respondent did not file a formal response and the domain name was decided in favor of the complainant.
This is pretty interesting. Curious to see how this one turns out.
If I’m the registrant, as soon as as I win the case, I will increase the price.
Some buyers are stupid, I had one domain hit by URDP and I could have sold for about $4,000 since it was a project in the plans only. I bough it for half that. I was willing to negotiate too. But the complainant didn’t contact me to buy it, he went directly to file the URDP, and also used a Law firm! Back then the filing fee was $2000, plus attorneys, it was more that what I could’ve taken.
Today I have more experience and the domain in fact is appraised 10 times more, since it is developed now and survived URDP. It was a good learning experience, frightening at the beginning but the rewards are Swwweeeetttt! I didn’t use attorney.
I hope the actual owner knows how to defend this domain. PHHH is a very generic acronym and I don’t see changing hands, unless the respondent doesn’t fight back. But after the battle, the domain is increasing value significantly. I will see this URDP in the hallofshame.com front page soon!
NOTE 1: I won’t disclose the domain name, if you ask
NOTE 2: I can be your attorney for hire!
No official response by the Respondent. A transfer was ordered: http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/search/text.jsp?case=D2015-0825
And it just sold again at godaddy:
https://namebio.com/phhh.com