Three letter domain name awarded to bank.
An arbitrator with World Intellectual Property Organization has awarded the domain name DKB.com to Deutsche Kreditbank AG. The owner of DKB.com, DKB Data Services, had invalid contact information and may have been dissolved — which probably explains why it didn’t respond to the complaint.
Arbitrator John Swinson found that the domain was registered in bad faith because it has not been used:
The Respondent has apparently held the domain name for a significant amount of time (for over seven years) without any evidence of use. The Respondent provided no evidence of intended use. Further, it does not seem conceivable that the Respondent has legitimate plans to use the disputed domain name in the future when the name has been dormant for such an extended period of time and where (as the evidence suggests) the Respondent no longer exists.
I’m shocked by this decision. When I first wrote about the filing, I wrote:
Deutsche Kreditbank AG has filed a case with World Intellectual Property organization to get the domain name DKB.com. The domain was registered back in 1996 and DKB Data Services, Inc has owned the domain since at least 2001 (the earliest available whois record). Unless something crops up in the case that’s not evident, can you say “reverse domain name hijackingâ€?
What’s troubling about this decision is that it’s highly unlikely Deutsche Kreditbank was actually being targeted with the domain name. When other companies see decisions like this, they rush to file a UDRP to beat out other companies that have similar names. It reminds me of Versa Capital Management. It was found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking for VersaCapital.com, but then won rights to the domain Versa.com. That means that Nissan probably could have gotten the domain name Versa.com for its Versa car brand if it had only filed a UDRP prior to Versa Capital, which creates a “gold rush” mentality.
Ed Muller says
So you mean from now on, if I find a domain and can’t contact the registrant I should just drag the whole list of that registrant’s domains to UDRP for an auto-win due to non-response?
I think it’s time get trademarks for everything in the universe. WIPO just turned the whole business of grabbing dead domains a real cinch. Who needs crappy pre-release aftermarket auctions?
mike says
the whole thing is bogus. wipo does what ever it wants now
rw says
Outrageous!
Steven says
This is where the ICA or another group or organization should stand uop and fight this. This is very bad precedent and will continue to allow these thieves to steal names through a corrupt system.
Totally insane!
domain guy says
failure of use even after 7 yrs does not equate to a valid issue of non use.sometimes it is better to not use the domain it could create a severe ruckus in the marketplace.
several domains are sitting on the sideline waiting for the proper time to iniate use.
MAGOOgle says
Don’t jump to conclusions on this.
WIPO handed the domain over for failure to respond, not that it was justified intellectual property dispute.
The plaintiff showed it had rights.
Failure to appear before any judge in a civil dispute usually means you will lose and in this case the company had shown it had rights to the domain but without a dispute there is no dispute hence the award.
The important thing you should take from this is to keep your contact information up to date ! It is the only legal way for notifications to be sent in a dispute.
It is not their fault if you do not get them if they prove they made a valid attempt via the contact information.
ben says
Even if the respondent fails to respond its the panelists job to judicate. Handing a potential north of 200K domain over to compalaint is akin to being a accessory to theft.
I hope the real owners of this domain takes this to a real court. They will win hand down.
MAGOOgle says
You can not defend what you do not defend.
Ed Muller says
There is no appeal process. There are no “legal” precedents. The civil court system of any country is difficult enough. Now we can give away properties worth over $100k simply because we “didn’t fight” an action. DBN.com was just hadned to DNB because “it could be a typo!”. Should AA win AAB, AAC, AAA etc? Just because?
The system is flawed.
IQ says
bizarre.
a cheek taking to wipo, then defendant has out of daste whois records, i guess possible to do when an old domain and theyre not domainers. they were an ‘inc’ with those initials, the old owners, so what if dormant? if the same company owns a factory or other real estate that lays dormant for 7 years, do the council then own? no. its obscene
Dutch Boyd says
Sometimes I think the WIPO arbitrators are just straight bribed.
Sumit Bahl says
This is simply Insane…
antonio says
everyone needs to keep their domains up to date. it’s a rule that existe for years. not knowing the law is no excuse for breaking the law…
for non-domainers all this thing can seem absurd but they should get every year an email from their registrar company asking to confirm their contacts.
but best of all is that many domainers do it as well intentionally, to cover their tracks and/or for not paying for whois privacy service.
regarding the decision i must agree it’s totaly flawed. even with no reply from the Respondent where is the problem with a domain that was never online? where is the bad faith? simply insane.
someday a guy picks up a gun and shoots down these bunch of fools. that would be a great opening news story 😛