Panelist spends a few extra minutes to avoid an injustice.
A UDRP panelist who doesn’t take the easy way out in a case where the respondent doesn’t reply?
Meet Nick J. Gardner.
Gardner decided a recent case in which German company MAGIX Software GmbH filed a UDRP against the U.S. owner of MusicMaker.com.
The domain name was registered in 1996. Given that it was so long ago, the whois lists the owner as The Music Connection, and Music Maker is a descriptive term, Gardner decided to do some basic research after the responded didn’t put up a fight.
A simple web search found that the tech contact in whois ran a CD business at MusicMaker.com. Gardner then did a Wayback Machine search and found that, indeed, there was a site at MusicMaker.com in the late 90s.
Gardner also had the basic knowledge (lacking in some panelists) to decipher between a registrar-created domain parking page and one created by the domain name owner to make a profit off PPC.
Given the circumstances, Gardner denied MAGIX Software GmbH’s cybersquatting complaint.
A lot of panelists would have just taken the easy way out and accepted all of the complainant’s assertions. Kudos to Gardner for taking a few extra minutes to make sure an injustice didn’t happen.
Joseph Peterson says
There is something to be said for thoroughness, evenhandedness, and taking one’s job seriously. Good to see those values in action anywhere – UDRP panels included.
C.S. Watch says
Thank you for crediting Mr. Gardner for his diligent work. It’s very helpful information, identifying competent panelists.
Proficiency with basic online research like this should be a prerequisite for UDRP accreditation. For instance, the wife and three kids of the deceased owner of MILLY.COM were robbed of their asset (~300K) because neither Andrew Christie, nor Richard Page, nor Robert Badgley knew how to execute basic research like this? None of these three panelists? Two minutes on Archive would have told them the Complainant’s attorneys were lying about the content of the site.
A lazier panelist on MUSICMAKER.COM could also have just called this a generic, and pointed out that there are over 50 trademark filings in the USPTO and WIPO databases for the text string “music maker,” some dating to decades before the internet.
When laches in the UDRP gets its due, an even lazier panelist will be able to say, “You waited twenty years to file? I must ask you to not urinate down my back and tell me it’s raining.”
Meyer says
quote – ” For instance, the wife and three kids of the deceased owner of MILLY.COM were robbed of their asset (~300K)”
Good point.