Company that sells “sex dust” tries to hijack domain name.
Los-Angeles, California-based Moon Juice Ventures, which uses the domain name MoonJuiceShop.com, has been found to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking.
The finding comes as a result of the company’s cybersquatting complaint against the owner of MoonJuice.com.
Moon Juice attempted to buy the domain name MoonJuice.com, which was registered over a decade before the California company received any sort of trademark rights in the term Moon Juice. The owner offered to sell it for $35,000 in response to the store’s inquiry.
Unhappy with the price, Moon Juice Ventures decided to try to get the domain name through a cybersquatting UDRP complaint. The complaint failed because it was impossible to show that the domain was registered and used in bad faith.
World Intellectual Property Organization panelist Alistair Payne determined that the complaint was filed in bad faith:
For the reasons set out above, it seems to the Panel that this Complaint was brought in order to obtain a domain name that the Respondent had bona fide registered many years prior to the commencement of the Complainant’s business or the registration of its trade mark. Following the Respondent’s refusal of the Complainant’s offer to purchase of the disputed domain name the Complainant still attempted to obtain the disputed domain name by filing this Complaint under the Policy in circumstances that there was clearly no registration in bad faith, or evidence of targeting of the Complainant by the Respondent. As a result there was no reasonable basis on which the Complaint could succeed and the Panel finds that this Complaint amounts to a case of reverse domain name hijacking.
The complainant was represented by attorney Nada Alnajafi.
Nick says
A UDRP should cost $3000. $1500 for fees and $1500 goes to the Respondent if the Complainant is guilty of reverse domain name hijacking. If they are not guilty money gets returned. Problem solved.
Jenny says
And if the respondent IS guilty he should have to pay damages to the complainant along with forfeiting the name
I mean fair is fair right Nick
Andrew Allemann says
Although I don’t have a problem with this, the only way it could be done is to collect $1500 up front when someone registers a domain. Half the time the domain owner doesn’t respond to a UDRP, and good luck tracking them down.