Domain investor will keep SoundStop.com domain name.
Domain name investor Mike Mann has successfully defended his domain name SoundStop.com in court after a UDRP panel ordered that he transfer it.
Blue Ridge Fiberboard, Inc filed a UDRP against the domain name with the National Arbitration Forum. A three-person panel consisting of Jaime Delgado, Sandra J. Franklin and Carolyn Marks Johnson sided with Blue Ridge Fiberboard and ordered Mann’s company to transfer the domain name.
Mann then sued in U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington at Seattle, seeking declaratory relief under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.
Blue Ridge capitulated and the parties settled on June 30. Mann’s Domain Asset Holdings will retain ownership of the domain name.
The dismissal notice (pdf) was filed with the court last week.
Ian Ingram says
Congrats to Mike on a nice win. Thanks for the update Andrew.
jaybuk says
Great news, thanks for the update.
Saul says
It’s kind of a shame it didn’t go fully to court and set some case law others could then follow.
@domains says
Don’t Mess with the Mann!
@domains says
I see the domain is back on the market at $34,888.
Raymond says
Well done!
John says
Okay, so if the ICANN/IANA “transition” occurs, and .com can later be removed from the US and its courts, what then?
Andrew Allemann says
I’m not sure what you mean by “.com can later be removed from the US and its courts”. The NTIA will still approve the contract to run .com even after the transition.
Dave Wrixon says
Really has very little to do with ICANN. They do not implement UDRP decisions. They are essentially a policy making body. The biggest problem would occur if a foreign registrar refused to act, but even then VeriSign could cancel the registration and get it reinstated by the original registrar.