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In a classic Plan B UDRP, two panelists don’t find RDNH

by — Policy & Law 3 Comments

One panelist calls it a “clear” case of RDNH, two others decline to find RDNH.

A lot of reverse domain name hijacking decisions have been handed down in UDRP cases this week. Surprisingly, the majority of panelists in a dispute over CLH.com did not find the filing an abuse of the proceedings, and their reason is even more surprising.

Compañía Logística de Hidrocarburos CLH S.A. filed the case against a domain name investor who acquired CLH.com in July 2017.

The complainant had been trying to buy the domain since 2015 before the current owner bought it for $32,000. After multiple failed purchase attempts if filed the UDRP.

In the decision, panelists Clive N.A. Trotman and Reyes Campello Estebaranz discussed how the case has many of the hallmarks of RDNH: the complainant tried to buy the domain and filed a UDRP when it couldn’t, and CLH is a common acronym.

But they decided against RDNH, writing “Alternative views as to the legitimacy of speculation in domain name have been debated since the early days of the Policy…” Click here to continue reading…

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Web.com to go private in $2 billion acquisition

by — Domain Registrars 2 Comments

Siris Capital to acquire domain name and web presence company for $25 per share.

Web.com (NASDAQ:WEB), the parent company of domain name registrars Network Solutions and Register.com, has agreed to be acquired by an affiliate of Siris Capital Group in a $2 billion deal.

Shareholders will get $25.00 per share; shares closed yesterday at $23.20. It’s a 30% premium over the 90-day volume-weighted average price for Web.com shares.

Web.com may shop for a better offer between now and August 5. It expects the transaction to close in Q4.

Once the deal is completed, Web.com will be a private company no longer traded on the NASDAQ.

The company is going through a difficult transition that has caused its short-term numbers to dip. Going private will help the company avoid short-term efforts to appease investors.

Siris Capital has taken other companies private in similar deals, such as Polycom and Digital River.

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Walker Edison Furniture Company hit with RDNH…again

by — Policy & Law 0 Comments

Time to hire a new lawyer.

Walker Edison Furniture Company or its attorney, J. Dustin Howell of Workman Nydegger, clearly doesn’t understand the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).

Last month it was found to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking over the domain name ForestGate.com. Now the same finding has been handed down in a case it brought against the domain name ManorPark.com.

The complainant apparently doesn’t understand (or ignored) the fact that you can’t claim cybersquatting when the registration of a domain name pre-dates your trademark. In this case, it appears that Walker Edison just recently started selling a product line under the Manor Park brand. It filed an intent-to-use trademark application earlier this year.

Also, the domain name has been in use promoting Manor Park Guaranteed Investment Funds Limited, so it clearly wasn’t registered in bad faith and the owner has a legitimate interest in the domain name.

The domain owner says that Walker Edison first tried to by the domain name before it filed the UDRP.

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35 end user domain name sales up to $125,000

by — Domain Sales 0 Comments

Sedo has facilitated lots of end user domain name sales so far this month.

It’s been three weeks since I did an end user sales list. I’ve been putting it off thanks to what has happened to Whois records as a result of GDPR. In reviewing the past few weeks’ of data today, I came up with a process to continue publishing end-user sales information despite restricted Whois.

(In fact, if you are interested in becoming my end user report writer, I will train you how to do this and pay you to create the weekly post. Some WordPress publishing knowledge is required. If you’re interested, contact me at andrew (at) domainnamewire.com.)

Sedo has had some strong sales this month, including Flo.com for six figures. Also note the purchase by Express Scripts, the 25th largest publicly traded company in the United States. It’s a big list, so let’s get to it! Click here to continue reading…

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Mechoshade busted for reverse domain name hijacking

by — Policy & Law 1 Comment

Window shading company filed cybersquatting complaint that had “no chance whatsoever of success”.

Mechoshade Systems, LLC, which goes by the name MechoSystems, has been found to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking for the domain name Mecho.com.

The window shading and coverings company filed a cybersquatting dispute against Mecho Investments, which registered the domain name in 1999. The domain was registered primarily for the family’s personal and business email addresses. It chose the domain based on a family nickname and provided evidence of use for email addresses.

Upon seeing Mecho Investment’s response to the complaint, MechoSystems decided to double down rather than admit that its case was busted. National Arbitration Forum panelist David Bernstein found that the case was filed in bad faith in an abuse of the UDRP. He wrote: Continue reading…

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