Domain name owner makes preemptive defense against UDRP.
A UDRP for WWE.org was just filed with National Arbitration Forum. You’ll see a curious message when you visit the domain name:
Disclaimer:
wwe.org (Western Women Entrepreneurs) is not associated with wwe.com (World Wrestling Entertainment) nor we have any intention to represent, sell or promote ANY wrestling goods.
wwe.org is a solo organization represents Western Women Entrepreneurs. we hold no trademark infringement towards WWE network nor using the domain in a bad faith.
if you are wwe.com and you wish to file a complaint through UDRP to claim our domain, you may go ahead without notifying us. however if you still wish to obtain our domain, you may contact us with a reasonable offer in order to get a reply.
Apparently WWE (the wrestling group) accepted the challenge.
The domain name was previously registered to Wisconsin Women Entrepreneurs, which let it expire earlier this year. The domain is now registered to the organization “this domain is for sale !!” with an address, city and state of Kuala Lumpur.
The domain was parked at Sedo before the Western Women Entrepreneurs page was put up, which may be where an alleged infringement issue arose.
Anyone wanting to join the Western Women Entrepreneurs group or attend one of its events will be disappointed to find out that those sections of its site are still under construction.
Update: WWE won the case.
Domainer Extroidinare says
“if you are wwe.com and you wish to file a complaint through UDRP to claim our domain, you may go ahead without notifying us.”
WWE.com doesn’t need this goofball’s permission to file a UDRP.
Acro says
Stupid move. Clearly, their best asset, judging by the junk listed at https://flippa.com/users/817231/listings
Jon says
ICANN will likely hand the domain over on a silver platter, They better get Berryhill in their court.
couponpages says
I know I’m coming from left field, but the wrestling WWE should back off. What gives them the right to take his domain?
They already have the .Com, why should they even want the .org? Even if they want it, they certainly don’t have an automatic right to demand it from this guy.
In fact, as far as I’m concerned, as long as the domain owner doesn’t claim to be with the wrestling WWE, they have every right to keep it and either build it, or shop for a non-profit that would like to buy it.
Are we to presume the Wrestling WWE should also be given every TLD on a silver platter? It’s a slippery slope. If the WWE gets an automatic right to every TLD variation, should they also block domains like WWEFans.something?
That’s not what Trademarks are for.
I guess I’m a Trademark fundamentalist. Based on the true purpose of Trademark law, the other guy, as long as he makes it clear he is NOT the Wrestling WWE, even has the right to build a blog about the Wrestling WWE, and serve ads and link to WWE videos and merchandise on Amazon if he wants to.
jon says
I completely agree. It’s just I ve seen so many ridiculious rulings from ICANN over the years, Im sorry to say I no longer have any faith that without legal representation any of our domains are safe from these ridiculious suits.
Corporations win 85% of the time .. even in instances when they from a common sense standpoint seem they shouldnt. The bottom line is if you
arent willing to fight for it with legal representation Icann has shown they will
just give it to the complaintant, especially if it is a BILLION dollar corporation.
Anyone who has a domain for sale currently, that is priced more than the
cost of a ICANN UDRP filing has reason to fear. These rulings are just
getting crazy and they are totally undermining the domain industry.
couponpages says
Sad, but true. I’ve been challenged about 5-6 times, but I’ve been lucky enough to fight them in writing, without an attorney and they backed down.
I’m not sure if it was because they assumed I had a lawyer who drafted the responses, because I made very strong cases and showed I understood Trademark laws.
In my case, most of them were over common phrases, not unique brands. Although I know it’s easy to defend brands in domains, I make it a point of avoiding them anyway.
John says
Didn’t the WWE change its name from the WWF years ago due to a symbol/naming issue?
Andrew Allemann says
Yes, they had a trademark spat with World Wildlife Foundation.
couponpages says
I never could understand how that one ever was an issue. Clearly they were in entirely different markets, so there was no chance of consumer confusion.
If anything, the Wildlife Federation actually would benefit from any potential confusion as people who never even heard of them would stumble upon them from time to time, and possibly spend a few minutes reading about their cause.
Andrew Allemann says
Update: WWE won.
couponpages says
Which WWE? The women’s group… or the wrestling company?
I’m guessing you’re saying that wrestling company took the domain using UDRP from the Western Women Entrepreneurs, instead of buying it?
This whole case is confusing. The women’s group went out of their way to say they are an independent organization unrelated to wresting… then asked for the wrestling group to try to take it, or pay them a reasonable price for it.
If they left out that line at the end saying they would sell it for a reasonable price, there would be no case for the wrestling group to claim they were cybersquatters. If they were a real organization, they wouldn’t want to sell it… at least not like that.
Had they gone that route, the wrestling group would have no reason to even want the domain. They would build their women’s group and that would’ve been uncontested.
He picked the wrong people to piss off, not because wrestlers are tough guys, but because the WWE has been on the other side before when the animal rights group triggered their name change.
Lola Lola says
guys, there is some hidden story between these two ..
look at what was written before and what is written now on wwe.org homepage !! what a daring message !!
Lola Lola says
i think wwe set him up. what a stunning story went rival all over the internet, now the whole UDRP case is put to the public on wwe.org for everyone to read.
couponpages says
Reading what the WWE (Wrestling) lawyers wrote just makes them look like jerks. What’s worse is they list all the other domains they used their financial resources to STEAL them from their original owners.
Trademark laws were created to prevent somebody from using your Mark in a way that intentionally confuses a consumer into thinking they are the Trademark holder.
To be clear, this means that a Trademark says “You can’t use our Trademark to make people think your company is my company.” That’s it. Every other use of a trademark is fair use.
As long as a consumer clearly is told this is NOT the Trademark holder, they can continue to use the Trademarked name and logo any way they want. Even say “The WWE are Jerks” as the only content.
There is zero chance somebody was confused enough to think some of the domains they won in previous cases such as wwebrawlinbuddies.info, wwezhijia.com, wwezj.com, wwe7.com, wwe9.net, or wwe100.com were the official WWE corporate site.
What bothers me most is that they are not just shutting down sites that use their Trademarks or logos in a confusing way. They are using UDRP to take the domains away from the site owners. At most, a Trademark owner should be able to petition a court to block a site from using their name or logo in a way to confuse the consumer. That’s it.
This means a site that is using a Trademark in a way to confuse or deceive a consumer would be required to eliminate the confusion, but still be able to operate and maintain ownership.
Fan sites have a right to exist, and to use giant Trademarks and Logos all over them and they are perfectly okay under Trademark laws. Non-fan sites also have a right to exist, for people who dislike their brand, as long as it’s clear they are not the Trademark owner.
I hope this spawns a bunch of domainers to buy sites with “WWE” in them, and make the entire content a rant about why the WWE sucks… just to challenge them.
It seems now that their main proof for abuse was that the owner asked $50,000 for it, which they felt was overpriced and only valuable because of their brand. I disagree. LLL domains are more expensive, and as we know, certain letters are more marketable than others… W and E are very common, so there may be a lot of small non-profits (it’s .org) that could build a better web presence with WWE.Org.
Also… Did they honestly need to promote their upcoming Wrestlemania pay-per-view in the complaint?
Lola Lola says
that guy has a fantastic response to each and every allegation made by wwe. wow man, what a fantastic response, i am reading it 3 times now and can not stop laughing. previously i thought this guy is crazy as all the web is talking about him, the entire web is calling him names just because he does not speak proper english not being a native english speaker.
that guy did us a favor by showing us the main udrp case to really figure things out, however there are some keys missing. but the entire story is ridiculous. wwe are ridiculous in their complaint. but that guy just made a mistake offering them his domain right. but if we look at it as stated in the response, he is a domain re-seller. i think he is free to price it as he likes. do not buy if you can not afford.
i was following up this case and reading all comments posted allover the internet about this guy and his case with wwe. i even called him crazy for his stupid action and what he promised to do to wwe. totally crazy. but only today, i got his point.
udrp was not at his side even with all evidences he provided within his response, yet was in the side of the powerful trademark of wwe.
the question i am asking. why wwe did not register this domain previously. it is also stated that they do not own wwe.net !!
Lola Lola says
i think the title of this topic was put wrong. it was that guy who accepted to challenge wwe.
he actually did as promised in his previous message but indirectly. i called him stupid earlier, very stupid and arrogant indeed. but now i can say, he is damn smart. look allover the internet, wwe.org is the hottest topic people discussing on all kinds of forums.
i was laughing when i read his last paragraph backing of. but now i got his point, he firstly insult wwe then avoided a legal action in a very smart way.
and after he got the attention, he put the case live for everyone to read and understand.
too bad he was not good in grammar that made people make fun of him.
Andrew Allemann says
Hmm…these comments seem very similar in form to the message on WWE.org…
Lola Lola says
exactly, i am telling you what did that guy said in his page adding up my own opinion. what is yours
Martin Cona says
Quote:
this guy was paid to do what he did. everything was planned a long time ago.
the question is who is behind it ?
Mark says
It is an empty page. Joker’s picture on the website ? that guy is a crazy but funny and wwe made a stupid move indeed, why did not they obtain this domain before anyone else ? there is something called a domain back-order not to mention their TM ability to order the domain from the registry itself. what a joke.
Tina says
Which of them posted that ? wwe is in a mess lately and this case is making a lot of debates on the internet.
Some forums are saying wwe does not own wwe.org / wwe.net and wwe.org.uk is offered for sale not to mention there are plenty of udrp cases now for wwe domains. COULD ANYONE PLEASE CONFIRM THAT ?
Who is who and what is going on ?