Do you call this cybersquatting?
A National Arbitration Forum panelist has found in favor of clothing company Guess in a dispute over the domain names guessandco.info, guessandco.org, guessandcoshareholder.info, theguessbreadcompany.com, theguessconstructioncompany.com, and theguessprivatemerchantcompany.com
Guess was recently found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking in a case filed with National Arbitration Forum, and I’d argue that the current case is also an abuse of the policy.
But panelist Ho Hyun Nahm found in favor of the clothing company instead.
The domain name owner didn’t respond, but the complainant handed over the evidence that should have been used to deny the case.
A man named Jerry Guess registered the domain names. Guess has a long history of having grand visions that don’t come to fruition. The FBI busted him and he served time for some of his activities.
While his businesses may have had more fluff than substance, he registered the domain names at issue to support his business operations and his company was named after him.
The clothing company Guess submitted an article to the panel about Jerry Guess’ former activities, which the panel used to ascertain “bad faith”:
…the Panel agrees that Respondent has previously engaged in bad faith behavior, and holds that Respondent registered and used the disputed domain names in bad faith.
So if someone engaged in bad behavior in business they should be assumed to have also registered domain names in bad faith? Domain names that include the person’s last name? Domain names that match proposed business ventures? Ventures that have nothing to do with clothing?
This isn’t cybersquatting. It’s not what UDRP was created for. I believe this was a poor decision.
I reached out to Jerry Guess and he said he is considering his options.
Poor decision. Such panelist should be kicked out.
Yes the UDRP had morphed out of all resemblance of what it was MEANT to be. Mind you, I find myself applying for a Trademark ,not one result listed when I searched before I applied and there is other registered TM in the jurisdiction YET up pops some company referring to a UDRP decision, that unfairly, went against me and even was overturned in Court (not publicly available though YET) and saying because of that my TM application was in bad faith. BS.
What was meant to say “there is NOT one other similar registered mark in the Jurisdiction”.
“That” . LOL, I give up, going to “Specsavers” now so I can see what I am typing !!
They made the absolute correct call! He was setting up subsidiaries and organizations whose acronyms were the same as other legitimate (and successful…) corporations/organizations. This guy is a joke…if you think perpetuating the mass scale destruction of other humans hopes, dreams, hard work, and MONEY is funny that is.
They absolutely made the correct call! I knew this sociopath during the time of this case. And yes, he was cybersquatting and worse. He often sets up “companies” (shell corps) and “subsidiaries” (also shells) that have names similar or even almost entirely identical to actual reputable businesses. He does this in an attempt to fly under the radar of their good reputation. All while conning, scamming, defrauding, defaulting, running out on contractual obligations, not paying a single bill for a single service he obtains through fraudulent means (100s of thousands of dollars…probably far more at this point stolen from inoccent people and companies who fall for his “good guy, giving second chances” routine. He has never paid a single one of his employees what he promised in written contracts. He just throws them ‘stock’ in his ‘companies’ when they want out. The stock is valueless because he is doing nothing other than conning people. I know from conversations with past female employees that the only time this man ever paid an employee for anything was if he was somehow able to coerce them into sleeping with him. Yes. This man is a disgrace and a joke. He’s an ugly stain on everything this country stands for and one can only hope and pray the feds pick him back up before he destroys lives past the hundreds he already has. Jerry Demario Guess is a monster. Always has been. Always will be. And that, you can take to the bank. Unlike his many, many bad checks.