UDRP reveals high sales price for Stars.com domain name.
I’ve been keeping a close eye on a UDRP for Stars.com that was filed on September 22. I hoped there was more to the story than some misguided company going after a dictionary word .com domain.
It turns out there is more to the story, although it’s a bit confusing.
Al-Dabbagh Group Holding Company, the Complainant, used to own the domain. It argued that the Respondent used to work for the Complainant and improperly changed the domain to his control. It also argues that a former employee named Khaled improperly transferred the domain to the Respondent. These are mutually exclusive and the panel rightfully questioned these assertions. I wonder if the Complainant didn’t know who owned the domain because of Whois privacy and failed to properly update its Complaint when the registrant’s identity was disclosed.
The panel denied the transfer.
But the big news from the dispute is that the Respondent, Leo Radvinsky of Cybertania Inc, said he bought the domain in an auction last year for over $900,000. (The panel clarified that it was for over $917,000.)
I don’t remember any publicity around an auction for the domain and can’t find anything posted about it. It’s possible this was merely an auction among more than one individual.
Either way, it’s a notable sale.
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