Panel agrees that the domain investor likely bought the domain for its value as a dictionary word.
A National Arbitration Forum panel has ruled against Abnormal Security Corporation in a dispute over abnormal.ai.
Domain investor Narendra Ghimire purchased the domain name in an expired domain auction in 2022 for $1,035.
The three-person panel agreed that it was unlikely the investor purchased the domain name to target the security company and more likely that he bought it because it’s a dictionary word.
The word “abnormal” is an ordinary dictionary word in the English language and therefore, in the absence of compelling evidence of bad intention or other reason to doubt the propriety of the Respondent’s conduct, it has the right to use it and hence a legitimate interest in it. Indeed, all things being equal, anyone has such a right to use such an ordinary dictionary word in a domain name. That conclusion may well be very different, of course, if the word in question, despite being a dictionary word, were also a world famous mark (e.g. “Apple”), although even then the context would be determinative and it may be that, even then, the word was being used simply as a dictionary word rather than as invoking the trademark.
The circumstances were clearly different from a case involving AstonMartin.ai.
Britt Anderson of Perkins Coie LLP represented the Complainant, and Steve Lieberman of Greenberg & Lieberman, LLC represented the domain name owner.
Why do companies which are registered in the United States seen to feel that every iteration of a (generic) name that happens to be the same as their company’s name, belongs to them? Domains are used world wide, and many a name is used by thousands of companies across the world. We have to get away from a US-centric view of the world.
I think this is more common in other countries, especially on a per capita basis. It seems like France is responsible for a disproportionate percentage of these cases.