Company filed cybersquatting claim against domain name that was registered before the company existed.
Obero, Inc., a Corporate Performance Management (CPM) and business analytics firm based in Ontario, Canada, has been found to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking over the domain name Obero.com.
The company, which uses the domain names OberoSolutions.com and OberoSPM.com, filed a cybersquatting complaint with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) against the owner of Obero.com.
WIPO panelist Christopher J. Pibus called the complaint “fatally flawed.” Obero was formed in 2010. It claimed a first use date of 2010 in its 2016 trademark filing. But the owner of the domain name registered it in 2008, so it was impossible that it was registered to target the complainant.
Pibus wrote, “The Complaint has filed a pro forma complaint, which is entirely bereft of substantive evidence aside from the existence of its Canadian trademark registration for OBERO.”
In finding reverse domain name hijacking, he wrote:
On its face, this Complaint was fatally flawed, due to the absence of trademark rights in the hands of the Complainant at the relevant date.
The Complainant ought to have noticed that the Respondent’s registration of the disputed domain name pre-dated the Complainant’s registered trademark rights by eight years. If the Complainant had done even a cursory investigation it would have determined that its Complaint was without proper foundation…
…The Panel finds that the Complainant’s conduct constitutes an abuse of this administrative proceeding, and that this Complaint has engaged in the act of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking under the Policy.
Obero, Inc was internally represented and domain name attorney Zak Muscovitch represented the domain name owner.
brandon abbey says
It is always a good thing when Zak is in your corner.
Nat Cohen says
Congrats to Zak and eWeb Development and to Pibus for making the deserved RDNH finding.
Josh says
Congrats Zak and client.
Steve says
Another parasite company trying to steal what is not theirs. Too bad there is not a SUBSTANTIAL cash penalty for this nonsense. Respondent is out the cash to defend this crooked fishing expedition. Ha ha, Obero obviously SUCKS at corporate management when they can’t even manage a domain acquisition properly. Send them to TheHallodShame!!!
Great job Zak!!
C.S. Watch says
As if ANYONE forming a company online as late as 2010 ‘wouldn’t have noticed’ that the five-character .com was already taken at that time. ‘Anyone’ is this shifty-eyed lizard: Bogdan Baliuc, founder, president, and CTO of Obero consultancy in Ontario, Canada. https://ca.linkedin.com/in/bbaliuc.
He registered his ‘oberosolutions.com’ in Nov. 2010, and at the same time registered ‘oberotechnologies.com,’ and later moved to ‘oberospm.com.’ So it is indisputable that he has long been rooting around the .com suffix picking names. The ‘I failed to notice the Respondent’s registration’ premise is beyond ludicrous.
Panel: ‘The Complainant ought to have noticed that the Respondent’s registration of the disputed domain name pre-dated the Complainant’s registered trademark rights by eight years.’ Ought to have noticed? How about, ‘This Panel is forced to find that the Complainant is lying to me like I’m a dim child.’
These UDRP disputes bring the registrant’s world to a screeching halt for months, they lose work opportunities and productivity, they’re stuck paying out thousands in legal fees—there’s a reason the minimum federal court award is 100K+ in the US for RDNH. Whatever the award is in Canada, it’s clearly not enough.
Here’s Romanian supermodel Bogdan Baliuc at play: http://oberosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Bogdan_1MB-2.jpg?x88161. The WIPO isn’t your illegal gambling venue, you thieving combover.