Cripto.com owner scores a victory against Crypto.com in cybersquatting dispute

WIPO panel declines to hear case.

Domdevelo OU, the registrant of cripto.com, has scored a victory in a cybersquatting battle initiatied by the owner of crypto.com.

As Domain Name Wire reported last month, Domdevelo sued Foris Limited after the latter filed a cybersquatting claim with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

WIPO panels have discretion on whether to decide a case when there’s a pending lawsuit that covers the matter.

In this case, Domadevelo asked the panel to terminate the case because of the lawsuit. Foris asked the panel to render a decision.

This week, the three-person WIPO panel unanimously decided (pdf) to terminate the case. It noted that it’s a complex case that includes issues outside the scope of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). For example, both parties have filed related trademarks, and trademark opposition proceedings are underway.

There is a bit of a catch that could bring this case back to WIPO. When it filed the UDRP, Foris agreed to submit to jurisdiction for any lawsuit stemming from the UDRP decision in the domain registrar’s location. In this case, that’s Arizona, where the lawsuit was filed last month. But since the UDRP decision wasn’t rendered, it’s possible Foris will argue the jurisdiction doesn’t apply. In that case, Foris might refile the case. This seems like an issue with the language in UDRP that might need to be addressed.

DeLab Consulting Limited represented Foris Limited and John Berryhill represented Domdevelo in the UDRP.