Company files dead-on-arrival cybersquatting dispute.
Furniture company Walker Edison has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking by a National Arbitration Forum panelist.
The decision comes after Walker Edison Furniture Company filed a cybersquatting complaint under UDRP against the domain name ForestGate.com. Walker Edison has a furniture brand called Forest Gate.
But the owner of the domain name ForestGate.com registered it in 1999, well before Walker Edison started using the brand. It filed a trademark application just weeks before filing the UDRP. It claimed common law rights, but even those potential rights postdated the domain registration.
In other words, the complaint was doomed to fail.
The fact that the UDRP was filed so soon after the trademark application makes me question the complainant representative’s (J. Dustin Howell of Workman Nydegger) understanding of UDRP.
Al says
I do not understand why there’s not damages awarded to the individuals that have to defend their domain name, Against blatant RDNH !
I feel even if it is not blatant, individuals who are found guilty of RDNH should be made to repay at least the attorney’s fees for the party they file against and maybe this will stop.
C.S. Watch says
It can be zero cost up front for registrants to file a RDNH suit and get the $100,000+ award in court. An attorney may take a ~30,000. USD payment out of the 100K+ court award, or ~30 percent of a settlement. (This site has reported on ~$50K RDNH settlements: https://domainnamewire.com/2017/02/28/nat-cohen-settles-reverse-domain-name-hijacking-case/)
Some attorneys who handle RDNH:
PHILLIP “PHIL” L. FREE in Oklahoma
Phone: 405-553-2878, pfree@hallestill.com
SMITH AND HOPEN in Tampa, FL
Phone: 800-807-3531, smithhopen.com
URIASLAW.COM in Scottsdale, AZ
Sharon Urias and Scott Urias
Phone: 480-306-5458
info@uriaslaw.com