Analytics firm wants to recover two domain names that are similar to its trademark.
Fractal Analytics has filed an in rem cybersquatting lawsuit (pdf) against the domain names FractalAnalyticsInc.com and Fractal-Analytics.com.
The analytics company uses the domain names FractalAnalytics.com and Fractal.ai. It’s a private company that has raised over $300 million from investors.
The two domain names at issue were registered within days of each other in June at Namecheap and Domain.com, respectively.
Fractal Analytics previously turned to the courts in 2018 for a cybersquatting claim. It got a default judgment against the domain name FractalAnalyticsPro.com.
Wiley Rein is representing Fractal Analytics. It filed the lawsuit in the Eastern District of Virginia, where .com registry Verisign is located.
Domainer says
I was wondering why the lawyers did not go the UDRP route?
Then, it dawned on me. The lawyers make 5 to 10 times more by filing a case in the U.S. Federal court.
Most likely, the results will be the same. They will get the domains.
Maybe, they plan to go for damages if the domain owner can be determined and has a positive net worth.
Andrew Allemann says
Fair question and one I always think about when a company goes straight to a lawsuit. There are some reasons I can understand filing a lawsuit rather than a UDRP.
1. It might help get some more information about the registrants of the domains.
2. Since the domains haven’t been used yet, it’s harder to show they are used in bad faith as required under UDRP.