Finding himself on the defense will help respondents in his own UDRPs.
Michael Gleissner’s companies’ failed attempts to acquire domain names through UDRP are well-documented. Yet he recently found himself on the opposite side of the table.
KGP Telecommunications, Inc. filed a UDRP against his domain name KGP.com.
Gleissner acquired the domain name in 2010. Earlier this year he transferred the domain name to a new company he set up in the UK called KGP International Limited.
A three-person National Arbitration Forum panel correctly denied the UDRP and ruled that the three-letter domain name was not registered in bad faith.
But now that one of Gleissner’s companies has had to defend a UDRP, he has given additional tools to respondents to use in his own UDRP filings.
For example, one of the defenses in the KGP.com UDRP was the doctrine of laches. This is the idea that a claim should be time-barred.
Some panels have found laches to be relevant while others haven’t. But now anyone on the defense to a UDRP filed by a Gleissner-affiliated company that registered the domain a long time ago can say “Hey, this person thinks laches should apply to a domain registered 6 years ago.”
You can read the full KGP.com decision here.
Joseph Peterson says
Gleissner (or rather his company Bigfoot) owns precisely the kind of domains that are targeted by RDNH. And not just KGP.com now.
Back in 2008, Gleissner LOST the domain VTP.com through a NAF UDRP … reportedly after just having paid $40,000 for it the month prior!
You’d think after suffering such a loss 8 years ago he’d oppose UDRP abuse. Yet here he is, exploiting the system in a blatant but clumsy attempt to steal domains from other people. Certainly he knows the damage RDNH causes, since it cost him $40k nearly a decade ago. Therefore he has no excuse.
It’s a very foolish project, this. If Gleissner prevails, stealing somebody else’s domain through the pretext of a trademark, then he puts his own LLL and LL .COM domains in jeopardy. Meanwhile, if he defends his own domains from UDRP complaints, any argument his lawyers make will be cited by other domain owners whom his lawyers aim to mug!
UDRPtalk says
It doesn’t appear that VTP.com was ever transferred to the complainant.
Was a lawsuit filed?