Application rejected: resume maker business tries reverse domain name hijacking

Panel finds seven reasons case was filed in bad faith.

A company that provides a resume-making app is learning the challenges of using a descriptive brand.

Employment Universe, Inc., which operates a resume builder site at ResumeMaker.com, filed a cybersquatting dispute against a competing business that uses ResumeMaker.online.

Before filing the dispute, the Complainant sent messages inquiring about a partnership and then offering to buy the domain. It also sent legal threats and even tried to coerce the Respondent’s payment processor into dropping it.

A three-person World Intellectual Property Organization panel found that the Complainant didn’t show the domain was registered in bad faith, nor did it show that the Respondent registered and used the domain in bad faith.

The panel states seven reasons that this was also an attempt at reverse domain name hijacking. Some of the reasons included:

• The attempt to buy the domain before filing the dispute (i.e., Plan B reverse domain hijacking).
• The Complainant provided selective correspondence to the Panel and did not disclose its pre-filing attempt to buy the disputed domain name from the Respondent or its correspondence with the Respondent’s payment service provider.
• The Complainant appears to be undertaking a campaign to harass and pressure the Respondent to sell the disputed domain name to the Complainant. Applying pressure against the Respondent’s payment service provider to stop processing payments to the Respondent is an example of this.
• The Respondent has been operating its business appropriately and legitimately since 2018. The Complainant provided no reason for its over seven-year delay in bringing this claim.