“Baseless” complaint was a “foolish waste of time”.
Three related hair care products companies have been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking after trying to steal the domain name Verb.com through a UDRP.
Verb Products Inc., Verb Hair Products Canada Inc., and Moroccanoil Israel Ltd. filed the complaint with the assistance of law firm Conkle, Kremer & Engel, PLC.
The three person WIPO panel that heard the case said it agreed with the first statement in domain name owner Richard Bloxham’s response, which read:
This Proceeding is a foolish waste of time involving a dictionary word in which the Respondent has a decade of seniority over the Complainant’s junior claim in hair care products.
That quote came courtesy of Bloxham’s attorney, John Berryhill.
The panel called the complaint “baseless” and “remarkably insufficient”.
Indeed it was.
The complainants claimed trademark rights for “Verb” but failed to provide any evidence, so they even lost the first prong of UDRP (confusingly similar to a mark in which complainant has rights). Even the rights it was claimed were established well after the domain name was registered.
The owner of Verb.com parks the domain name at DomainNameSales.com, and it shows the links you’d expect to find on Verb.com: Verbs, English Verbs, Grammar, etc. There are no links related to haircare.
chad folk says
This will continue and again,, NO slap on the wrist to file. Industry needs to wake up and seek to modify a penalty for RDNH.. Its going to get worse.
falconx2020 says
John Berryhill does it again! Damn that guy is good. Worth every penny imho. And love that little touch he added while bitch slapping the complainants. Now more precedents in place to combat these idiots in the future.
Chad agreed. Worst part the poor domain owner is out “opting for 3 panelists” and lawyer fees (easily in the $5k+ range). Just so that he can continue to keep what he already had. Meantime the complainants just get to walkaway as if nothing happened. They can wipe their ass with being labeled as a reverse domain name hijacker (as I have been personally told in the past).
The system sucks and need to be seriously tweaked. Great job Richard Bloxham in hiring the right attorney. And Mr. Berryhill keep up the great work. Every domain name owner without them even knowing owes you some type of gratitude. Now if you were on the otherside of things, I would tell you to F*&k Off! Funny how things play out. 😉
Anon says
Being found guilty of something implies there is a punishment, there is none!
Joginda says
Yes there is no punishment. The complainant probably won’t suffer too much as the general public buying hair-care products aren’t probably aware.
The losers will probably be the attorneys law firm Conkle, Kremer & Engel
If you were a potential client looking for a firm of attorneys, would you choose a law firm that not only loses cases but gets their client a ruling naming them as “Reverse Doman Name Hijackers”?
John Berryhill says
Additionally, the complainant’s attorney needs to justify whatever they billed their client on the advice that this was a good idea.