French company files UDRP after offering to buy a domain name for $500,000.
Plug “buy followers” into Google and you’ll get 624,000 results. In a rush to look important online, companies spend lots of money buying low-quality social media followers.
A French firm that uses the domain name BuyFollowers.fr to sell followers has failed in its attempt to steal the generic domain name BuyFollowers.com through a UDRP, and it appears it may have been a bit dirty in its tactics.
By my reading of the UDRP decision, complainant Conseil NR told the domain name owner that it would buy BuyFollowers.com for $500,000. When the domain name owner suggested he would accept the offer, Conseil NR filed the UDRP. It used the $500,000 number against the domain name owner, trying to prove that the respondent would sell the domain name for a high price.
As panelist Luca Barbero pointed out, “Respondent’s indication that it would have accepted the Complainant’s unsolicited offer of USD 500,000 for the disputed domain name consisting of generic terms does not prove bad faith directed to the Complainant.”
Had the domain name owner responded to the accusations, the panel might well have found Conseil guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking. It only has a figurative mark for “Buy Followers”, and the respondent registered the .com before any trademarks were filed for the mark.
Owning a generic ccTLD does not give you rights to a generic .com domain name.
Jens says
What the heck is wrong with some people. These French guys are nothing but thugs.
Jonahtan Frost says
Sounds like a binding contract to me. Take him to court and enforce the agreement.
Anon says
I agree!
carledgar says
It’s actually an “offer to treat”
Honorarni posao says
I completely agree! This $500k offer should be considered as a binding contract.
Next says
that right!!!! for that the french domaining is dead because of their poor french mentality !!!
Steve says
No rdnh??? Pathetic. The respondent should not have to do anything. It is obvious these parasites were trying to steal what is not theirs. Ridiculous system. Luca needs to give their head a shake.
JZ says
talk about your pieces of crap.
Anon says
Why do people think there is something wrong with trying to sell a domain name for a high price? There’s nothing wrong with trying to sell a piece of real estate for a high price — why is a domain name any different? Why does capitalism work just fine for prospective buyers of real estate but not for prospective buyers of domain names? Where does this sense of entitlement from prospective domain name buyers come from?
thelegendaryjp says
Perfect example! I would sue to enforce the agreement, absolutely. Good for the owner in defending, hopefully these types of tactics being crushed will slow down others from trying.
Beerth says
As gtlds and ccTLD continue to lose any resemblance of value, cases such as this will become more commonplace.
Bona Vee says
Well said buddy. ‘Dot com’ remains the king… no controversy!
ken london hongkong says
great articles a lot of french companies are investing in the web the .fr extensión should go up in value with higher prices
chatbot cobot says
what a play this company should go out of business .fr is a great extensión credit.fr sold for 600000 euros it,s a great price
GRISS says
The whole procedure with such UDRPs starts to suck ! It really stinks!!! Enough with all these bullshit; you want a domain? get out and grab it…. is it registered? pay for it if you can or shut up and get lost… ENOUGH !
Teej says
I have UsedCars.fr for sale is anyone is interested. Just saying..:)
Peter Rose says
What an amazing coincidence, I have GROUPFOLLOWERS.COM
It’s not worth 500K but could be worth 400K !!!
Teej says
Well..here’s a URDP for ya. Haha
J says
Offering to buy BuyFollowers.com was a sham to hook the seller. This domain name is not worth even $100,000. It only has keywords searched exactly 2,400 times per month.
Sharing Google results is not the best way to show real value. Nevertheless, the buyer should be on the hook for playing games with this seller to hijack this domain name for no charge.
Making a binding agreement could put this buyer in a bad predicament. Not good for their business, especially with selling low quality followers and wanting to steal a domain they have no right to own unless they purchase it.
Do they understand how these domain disputes work? Apparently not.