Company that owns TheGreatcourses.com loses two cases in one day.
The Teaching Company, LLC, d/b/a The Great Courses, lost two UDRPs on the same day this week.
The company lost a case filed against Marchex for GreatCourses.com and against Michael Berkens for GreatCourse.com. Conveniently, John Berryhill represented both parties.
In both cases, The Great Courses failed to prove the domain names were registered and used in bad faith.
Marchex has owned GreatCourses.com since it acquired Yun Ye’s portfolio in 2004. Berkens registered GreatCourse.com in 2003.
Over ten years later, The Great Courses decided it wanted to upgrade its domain name TheGreatCourses.com.
Its trademark rights at the time the domain names were registered were weak at best.
The cases were interesting because the complainant tried to disqualify one panelist, Neil Anthony Brown. The rest of the three person panel ruled that this wasn’t right. Brown recused himself anyway. Another panelist wasn’t appointed so the cases were effectively decided by two panelists.
The complainant pointed to Brown’s record on cases involving attorney Berryhill. It seems that Brown has found overwhelmingly in favor of respondents that Berryhill has represented.
This is funny, because every single panelist that has heard cases in which Berryhill is involved will have a high rate of finding in favor of the respondent. The guy doesn’t lose many cases.
This isn’t the first time a complainant has tried to force Brown out of a case.
Despite all of this, the panels did not find The Great Courses guilty of reverse domain name hijacking.
The Great Courses has a pending case against TheGreatCourse.com.
DNPric.es says
They should be more modest and register thegreatcours.es + thegreatcour.se if they are for a shorter name.
The Respondent says
Dr. John Berryhill is the real deal. If you ever have an issue with an UDRP complaint, do not hesitate to call him. He is so worth it. He’s a tough yet fair guy. And his assistant Cristin is especially nice. My only regret is that I didn’t call him sooner.