Brazilian financial company filed dead-on-arrival cybersquatting complaint.
Nubank, a Brazilian finance startup that has raised billions in funding, tried to reverse domain name hijack the domain name Nubank.com.
A World Intellectual Property Organization panelist made the ruling after Nubank (Nu Pagamentos S.A.) made a cybersquatting claim against the domain name. The owner of the domain name didn’t respond to the dispute, but it’s clear that the domain was registered well before Nubank had any trademark rights in the term.
It appears that Nubank filed the complaint after failing to get a response to its purchase overtures.
In finding reverse domain name hijacking, panelist Steven Maier wrote:
The Complainant is professionally represented in this matter and, in the opinion of the Panel, knew or ought to have known that it had no reasonable chance of prevailing in this proceeding for the reasons set out above, including in particular the fact that the disputed domain name had been registered many years before the Complainant began using the trademarks in question. Further, the Complainant’s admission that it has tried but failed to purchase the disputed domain name from the Respondent suggests to the Panel that this proceeding represents a fallback, in circumstances where the Complainant has failed to secure the disputed domain name by commercial negotiation. The Panel therefore finds that the Complaint was brought in bad faith and constitutes an abuse of the administrative proceeding.
K&L Gates LLP represented Nubank.
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