Domain attorney defends owner of Squirrels.com in his latest animal-related UDRP.
Domain name attorney John Berryhill is either Noah, busily filling up his ark, or he has a fetish with animals.
He’s successfully defended UDRP filings against Pig.com, Elephant.com, Ant.com and Elk.com. Now you can add Squirrels.com to the list.
World Intellectual Property Organization has just handed down a decision in Squirrels LLC vs. Giorgio Uzonian for the domain name Squirrels.com.
As far as rounding up animals to get them on the ark is concerned, this was a fairly easy one. The complainant filed a completely baseless complaint, claiming rights that came at least 14 years after the respondent registered the domain name.
This was a case of a complainant wanting to upgrade their domain name for less than what they could buy the domain for. When negotiations failed, they filed a UDRP.
How ridiculous was the claim? Here’s a line from the complainant summary:
…because he appears to be holding the domain name for the purpose of capitalizing on its value, Complainant alleges that Respondent registered and is using the domain name in bad faith. In this regard, Complainant alleges that Respondent acted in bad faith, allegedly by engaging in a business of owning and selling domain names.
Owning a domain name with a goal of capitalizing on its value? The horror!
As you probably have guessed, Squirrels LLC was found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking in the case. The company was represented by Walker & Jocke, a law firm specializing in intellectual property. That this case would be filed by IP experts is quite a head-scratcher. Maybe they were hoping to distract someone:
He is a Master. Congrats!
There should be some sort of preliminary review where such cases do not get to a level of filing, but I would assume the filers would just add more baseless facts to get past such a stage.
Another win, yet financial loss for the owner with no compensation.
Walker & Jocke was the same firm on the losing side of this decision: https://domainnamewire.com/2014/09/05/clearwater-systems-reverse-domain-name-hijacking/
I hope the next one is a reptile.
Or a fish. That would be cool.
I’ll definitely call on your services John if someone decides to hunt my amphibian.