A UDRP has been filed against the valuable two letter ZL.com domain name. The UDRP was filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization, and it is WIPO Case D2016-1665.
ZL.com was created in May of 1996, and the domain name is privately registered. The domain name is parked and it is currently listed for sale via Sedo, although there does not appear to be an asking price listed at Sedo. I checked through my email records, and I do not see any references to this being listed for sale via any domain broker newsletters I receive regularly.
The UDRP was filed by a company called Zirngibl Langwieser Rechtsanwälte Partnerschaft mbB. A Google search for that company shows me it likely uses zl-legal.de for its website. It appears that this company is located in Germany.
As a LL.com domain name, ZL.com holds significant value, likely well into the 6 figures based on recent domain name sales. According to NameBio, the last publicly recorded sale of ZL.com was for $45,000 via NameJet auction in 2008, prior to the huge move in valuation for similar domain names.
Earlier this year, Kenyan Airlines filed a UDRP against KQ.com, which it lost. A little less than a year ago, a different company filed a UDRP against WI.com, and that UDRP was lost as well. The only time a complainant won a LL.com UDRP filing that I can recall is LH.com, although I believe that ended in litigation after the domain owner took subsequent action.
I am not really sure why the complainant seems to think it can satisfy all of the aspects of a UDRP, which is necessary to be successful. Once a decision is rendered, I will update this article to reflect the status.
Update: According to UDRPSearch.com, the UDRP has been terminated. It remains to be seen whether or not a deal was worked out in private for this domain name. Whois records show that the domain registrant still owns ZL.com.
New candidates for the hall of shame… sneaky germans!
That is their website:
http://www.zl-legal.de/
These German lawyers don’t even appear to own ZL.de
And there is even a German company using ZLcom.de
If they lose-as they should, because there is nothing on the website targeting them or their trademark — they should definitely be found to have engaged in attempted RDNH.
These are lawyers who claim expertise in trademark law on their own website. They have no excuse for misunderstanding or ignoring the elements for bringing a successful UDRP action.
The domain owner could also explore bringing an ethics complaint against them with the bar authority in Germany.
They are a German law firm. So, there is no cost for legal time, just UDRP fees.
I hope the owner of ZL hires the best IP lawyer. He/she will need it.
As far as I can see, the Complainant has 4 TMs related to “ZL”:
– a combined mark for “ZL” (appl in 2010, reg in 2011, Germany)
– a word mark for “ZL connect” (appl in 2010, reg in 2011, Germany)
– a figurative mark for “ZL” (appl and reg in 2011, EU)
– a recent filing (May 2016) for the word mark “ZL” in EU.
It looks like the name was initially owned by the Swiss group Zellweger Luwa, until 2006, then ownership moved to another Swiss company, Spaeter Stahl Group, until 2008, when it was probably sold through NameJet.
After that date it seems it was always parked with ads at Sedo.
IMHO zero chances of getting the domain … no way to prove bad faith in registration (reg date and also change of ownership predates all complainant’s TMs), and same for bad faith in use, unless one of the ads shown has targeted the Complainant.
That said, in order to minimize any future risk, I’d suggest ZL.com owner to avoid parking it with ads … 🙂
So let us understand this better.
The complainant is a company of German lawyers who well understands the UDRP process.
They are lawyers so there is no cost to them for their own legal time, just the UDRP filing fee of $1500.
The owner of the domain name if he/she chooses to reply has to spend thousands of dollars to make a defence case.
If these German lawyer complainants lose their case then there is no penalty.
Somehow this doesn’t seem fair.