A UDRP was filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) against the valuable 2 letter QW.com domain name. The complaint was a bit confusing, pitting the Complainant, Quickware, Inc. / Williams Fred, against Quickware, represented by Fred Williams, as the Respondent.
The sole panelist, Scott Blackmer, ruled in favor of the domain registrant in this UDRP. The decision was published on the WIPO website this morning. Based on my reading of the decision, it appears that someone impersonated the domain registrant in an attempt to wrest control over this high value domain name using the fairly inexpensive UDRP:
“As explained above, (a) the record indicates that the Complainant is a fraudster impersonating the Respondent, (b) there is no evidence in the record that Quickware Inc. actually continues to exist as a legal entity, and (c) the trademark cited by the Complainant is held by an entirely unrelated company in any event, Qujickware Engineering & Design LLC of Waltham, Massachusetts. There is no trademark on which to ground a UDRP complaint even if the Complainant were a proper party.
Thus, even if the Complaint were allowed despite the apparent fraudulent nature of the proceeding, the first element of the Complaint would not be established.”
Frankly, I am surprised we don’t see more of these types of cases. There is a fairly low bar required to file a UDRP, and the cost compared to the value of a great domain name is pretty low. Someone could submit publicly available information in the hopes of convincing a panelist it is their domain name, and if the UDRP is unanswered by the domain registrant, a panelist could easily rubber stamp the decision. Fortunately, Mr. Blackmer did not do this. I hope WIPO and NAF highlight this case to other UDRP panelists to be on the lookout for something like this in the future.
It’s not the first time this sort of thing has been attempted. I can recall off the top of my head two prior schemes – one using a forged trademark certificate, and another one using similar fake credentials – at WIPO, and two others involving impersonators/fakes at ADRForum.
As the TRX.com dispute showed, there are UDRP panelists who don’t even bother to check the ownership of a claimed trademark registration, so the UDRP is ripe for this sort of thing.