Large European tech conference fails to obtain ideal domain name.
French tech conference LeWeb has lost a domain dispute with the owner of LeWeb.com.
The conference, which attracts 3,000 people, uses the domain name LeWeb.net.
Conference organizers claimed that many of its attendees reported confusion when they visited LeWeb.com by mistake. This is no surprise — typing .com instead of any other top level domain name is a common mistake.
The World Intellectual Property Organization panel denied the conference’s complaint, observing that LeWeb.com was registered well before the conference was founded. This would explain why it registered the .net version instead.
Another interesting note: LeWeb’s complaint says it has French trademarks for leweb2 leweb2.com leweb2.fr and leweb3 leweb3.com. It doesn’t appear to own any of these domains: leweb2.com, leweb2.fr, and leweb3.com.
Gnanes says
“Respondent says that the present action by the Complainant is reverse domain name hijacking.” Responded clearly states that’s the case and the panelist didn’t rule it as reverse domain name hijacking.
Tim Davids says
LeMorons…
Andrew Allemann says
@ Gnanes – the panelist said he was going to ignore the respondent’s claims since they weren’t filed correctly.
…but you’re right
John Berryhill says
Panelists who believe it is the Respondent’s job to make out a case for abusive UDRP filings should really sit down and read Rule 15(e).
They cater to and coddle frivolous filings because, in the main, it is the Complainants who bring the fees in.
There is hardly any complaint so hopelessly frivolous or carelessly crafted that it will attract the criticism of a UDRP panelist. There is nothing in Rule 15 which requires a respondent to show or prove a thing, nor to raise the issue of abusive filing. It is the duty of the Panel to point out abuse when they see it, and it is a mystery why these so-called experts can’t recognize a baseless claim.
Andrew Allemann says
Furthering John’s comment, here’s how one panelist explains the requirement to consider RDNH:
https://domainnamewire.com/2009/07/13/an-arbitrators-view-of-reverse-domain-name-hijacking/
france says
usual french disputes 😀 !