4chan loses domain name dispute with Oversee.net

4chan wanted to get the domain name 4chan.com.

Popular bulletin board site 4chan has lost a case it filed to get the domain name 4chan.com.

4chan, LLC, which operates the top 1,000 site 4chan.org, filed the complaint with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) against Oversee.net back in March.

One commenter on my original story about the UDRP case thought it was odd that 4chan was just now coming after the domain name. That person also pointed out that 4chan was a name similar to another board called 2chan, which is why the name was selected in the first place.

The three person panel determined that 4chan did not prove that the domain name was registered in bad faith.

This was a lengthy determination, but essentially the panel said it was plausible that Oversee.net registered the domain name without the bulletin board, which was created a few months earlier, in mind. After all, there are other number-chan sites, like the aforementioned 2chan.

Given the length of time it took 4chan to file the case, it was harder for the panel to determine why Oversee.net originally registered the domain name.

Oversee.net has since sold its portfolio of domain names to Rook Media (technically the portfolio went to Sol Invictus Comiti, LP, according to the UDRP). This transaction took place shortly after the case was filed. My reading of the decision is that perhaps Oversee.net’s lawyers made things harder for Rook going forward by asking the question of whether this is a transfer of the domain to a new registrant by the rules of UDRP.

This story has been updated to include additional details from the UDRP case decision.