UDRP Panelist Rules NameMedia Can Keep Generic Pantaloons.com

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

NameMedia wins UDRP case brought by Indian retailer.

PantaloonsNameMedia has successfully staved off an attack by Indian clothing retailer Pantaloon Retail for the domain name Pantaloons.com. The retailer is part of Future Group, and owns Pantaloon.com, but not the pural version.

Pantaloons is a generic, albeit somewhat antiquated, clothing term. But it’s still a generic word, the panelist noted.

NameMedia put up a SmartName shop on the domain name, which shows numerous product listings for pantaloons. Interestingly, the panelist questioned this online shop’s validity:

the offering of pantaloons for sale at the website, appears to the Panel to be contrived and there may well be grounds for questioning its validity. Clearly, from the evidence provided, Respondent is not itself offering pantaloons for sale, it is merely providing links to eBay and other sites where such offers are made. However, in the light of the Panel’s conclusions in relation to Respondent’s second proposition, it is unnecessary for the Panel to decide that question.

NameMedia’s actual response in the case isn’t public, but from reading the panelist’s summary of the response, it doesn’t appear that the company actually inferred that it personally sold pantaloons. Instead, it showed that it was using the domain name in a way that didn’t infringe on the complainant’s mark and only used the generic nature of the term.

The panelist ruled that NameMedia had rights or legitimate interests in the domain name.

Further Reading:

  1. Another UDRP Panelist Considers Domain Valuation in Decision
  2. UDRP Panelist Opens Door for Cases to be Refiled
  3. UDRP panelist decides case despite pending legal action

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3 Comments » - Posted in Policy & Law by

Comments

  1. daily visitor
    June 29th, 2010 | 9:45 am

    The complaint states BuyDomains wanted $ 38K for it.

    I had heard that Michael Mann when he owned the company use to take the position if someone challenged the ownership of a domain, he drastically raised the offering price. (don’t know if it is true.)

    I wonder if NameMedia will do the same?

  2. pantaloons
    July 2nd, 2010 | 5:10 am

    we forget to purchase the panelists

    http://registry.in/system/files/pantaloonsin_0.pdf

  3. All.in
    July 2nd, 2010 | 12:51 pm

    In India, we buy the panelists!

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