We are in the third week of 2019, and it looks like we just had the first UDRP filing for a valuable three letter .com domain name (LLL.com). According to UDRPSearch.com, a UDRP was filed at the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) for the RDW.com domain name. This UDRP filing is case #1824259.
When I visited RDW.com this afternoon, it appears to be showing the website for 6868.com, which is a Chinese website. Because of the language difference, I am unable to tell what is being offered or advertised on that website, but Google Translate seems to indicate it is some sort of domain name sales page. A Whois record for RDW.com shows that the domain name was created in 1999 and the registrant address is in China.
Because the UDRP was filed at NAF, the complainant is not yet listed. NAF publishes the complainant’s details once the UDRP decision has been published. I did a Google search for “RDW,” and most of the top results are related to the RDW acronym that stands for Red Cell Distribution Width. I looked at LinkedIn to see some of the top company results for RDW, and here are some of the results.
- RDW (Government organization using RDW.nl)
- RDW (Machinery company using rdw.com.au)
- RDW Group (Marketing company using rdwgroup.com)
- RDW architects (Architecture firm using RDWarchitects.com)
- RDW Tandartsen (Hospital organization using rdwtandartsen.nl)
There are quite a few other companies and organizations either called RDW or that use the RDW acronym/initials for their branding or marketing.
I looked through my email records, and I do not see any emails from brokers offering RDW.com for sale at any time. I also looked at NameBio, and I do not see any public sales records for the RDW.com domain name.
Because it is a valuable three letter acronym domain name and I don’t see any infringement, I would imagine the complainant is going to have an uphill battle. The domain name may appear to be offered for sale (I can’t say for sure because I don’t read Chinese), but I do not believe that should be sufficient to wrest control of a valuable three letter .com domain name from a registrant. I will keep an eye on this UDRP.
Update: The complainant in this UDRP was a company called RDW Imports, Inc. The complaint was denied, but the panel did not rule it was a case of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking.
Revolving door of thieves trying to poach good domains, have they asleep for the past 25 years.
Tsk tsk. You are a domain investor and you failed to look in the very first place every domain investor should look: USPTO.gov.
The U.S. federal government website tells you the obvious answer — a company that recently received a trademark filing on RDW in late 2018 and feels that 25 years later it is somehow now entitled to the domain name RDW.com:
Word Mark RDW.COM
Goods and Services IC 035. US 100 101 102. G & S: On-line wholesale and retail store services featuring precious and semi-precious gem stones; Wholesale and retail store services featuring precious and semi-precious gem stones
Standard Characters Claimed
Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Serial Number 88232169
Filing Date December 17, 2018
Current Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Owner (APPLICANT) RDW Imports, Inc. CORPORATION DELAWARE 71 West 47th Street, Suite 1001 New York NEW YORK 10036
Attorney of Record Randy Friedberg
Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE
Interesting – thanks for sharing that.
Peculiar that they filed for a trademark that matches the full domain name they did not appear to have owned.
If I understand it correctly, they have not used this trademark in commerce but plan to in the future (ITU – intend to use)
That has to make their right to the domain weaker.
Filed Use: No Currently Use: No
Filed ITU: Yes Currently ITU: Yes
I hope the chinese domain owner hires an IP lawyer (like Steve Lieberman or John Berryhill) if they want to keep the domain. The value of the domain justifies the legal expense.
6868.com is a domain marketplace