Lawsuit filed in Arizona to stop transfer of domain name after adverse UDRP determination.
Last month a National Arbitration Forum panel handed down a shockingly bad decision over the domain name Vanity.com, ordering the domain transferred to Vanity Shop of Grand Forks, Inc.
Now Vanity.com, Inc. has filed a federal lawsuit (pdf) to halt the transfer.
Vanity.com had already filed suit in the Northern District of California prior to the UDRP decision. But in order to halt the imminent transfer of the domain, Vanity.com needed to file the case in the “mutual jurisdiction” selected by the complainant in the UDRP. The complainant chose the registrar’s location. With the domain registered at Go Daddy, Vanity.com filed the case in U.S. District Court in Arizona.
Vanity.com is represented by Mike Rodenbaugh. Here’s how he explains the venue in the suit:
11. Plaintiff has filed a similar action in the Northern District of California on June 5, 2012, styled Vanity.com, Inc. v. Vanity Shop of Grand Fork, Inc., CV-12-02912 (SI), seeking the same relief on essentially the same claims as asserted herein.
12. Plaintiff is required to file also in this jurisdiction in order to preserve ownership of its rightful property, the Domain Name, as this jurisdiction was chosen by the Defendant pursuant to the UDRP. If Plaintiff did not file this action, then the Domain Name registrar would transfer the Domain Name to Defendant pursuant to the terms of the UDRP.
It’s kind of interesting that the first case was filed in California given the selection of mutual jurisdiction. But, it’s unusual for a UDRP panel to actually issue a ruling when there’s a pending lawsuit, so I suspect Vanity.com hoped it could handle the issue on its own home turf.
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