French publication files publication to try to get domain name from deceased man.
Société Du Figaro S.A. of Paris, France, a news publication, has lost a UDRP it filed against a dead man.
The group filed the UDRP against the domain name figaro.tv.
The domain name is registered to Stefan Blumtritt of “Cut Company” in Germany.
Société Du Figaro S.A. pointed out to the panel that the domain name owner apparently died last year. This was certainly helpful information for the World Intellectual Property Organization panelist, as otherwise he probably would have assumed that the domain owner simply decided not to respond to the complaint.
Given that the complainant knew the respondent was deceased, the complainant’s argument that “the Respondent holds the disputed domain name only in order to disturb the Complainant’s business” as well as his noted failure to respond to a cease & desist letter seems rather ill-placed.
Panelist Daniel Kraus noted that Figaro is a common male name in the Italian language, and thus the domain might well have been registered for its common meaning. He denied the claim on that basis.
This isn’t the first time a company has used UDRP to try to snag a domain name from a someone who physically could not respond. In 2011, Avomex, Inc (producer of Wholly Guacamole) filed a complaint against WhollyGuacamole.com after first trying to convince the deceased domain owner’s widow and son to sell the domain name.
Even I know that is a common term, and I’m nit French.
Grave robbing seriously, can udrp bastards go any lower.
SCUM !!
What is more concerning is how many Deceased Respondent cases have there been since the UDRP came into force. With Panels having nothing more to go on other than the merits of the complaint I can imagine quite a few cases have been decided unjustly, especially where Complainant is aware the Respondent is deceased and knew no response would be filed.
It is quite disgusting really that they would attempt to blast the man as a cyber-squatter in death!