Australian mining and agriculture company tries reverse domain name hijacking

Firm’s name is a common surname in Australia.

A World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) panel has denied (pdf) a cybersquatting complaint against the domain name hancock.com.au. The majority of the panel also found that this was a case of reverse domain name hijacking.

Hancock Prospecting Pty Limited filed the dispute against Domain Invest Pty Ltd.

The Respondent said it acquired the domain name as part of a business providing email addresses based on common surnames. Hancock is a relatively common surname in Australia, used by about one in every 2,000 people.

The three-person WIPO panel unanimously determined that the registrant had rights or legitimate interests in the domain name.

Additionally, the majority of the panel ruled that this was a case of reverse domain name hijacking. The majority wrote:

The Complainant was aware of the Respondent’s use of the Domain Name and yet chose to omit relevant precedent that directly establishes that such conduct gives rise to rights or legitimate interests. The Panel also notes that at the end of page 10 of the Complaint, the Complainant misstates the effect of paragraph 4(c)(i) of the Policy; this provision provides that the registration of domain names for the purposes of selling them to the Complainant or competitors of the Complaint (emphasis added; these words were omitted from the Complaint) can amount to registration or use in bad faith; the question of whether offering domain names acquired for the purpose of resale is a bona fide offering is unrelated entirely to 4(c)(i).

The Respondent is a client of DBR Digital Assets, which documented its account of events in a blog post.

According to DBR, an attorney for Hancock threatened to file the cybersquatting complaint as leverage in purchase negotiations.

McCullough Robertson Lawyers represented the Complainant, and Cooper Mills Lawyers represented the domain owner.

Update 4/2/26:

A Hankcock spokesperson sent this statement:

Hancock Prospecting has a well-established and longstanding association with the Hancock name, built over many decades across our interests in mining, resources, agriculture and more.

We were concerned that email addresses using @hancock.com.au were being offered to members of the public, creating a significant risk of confusion and potential misuse of our brand.

We made good faith attempts to resolve the matter commercially and in line with market standards, which were rejected by the owner. In those circumstances, we used a standard dispute resolution process through the World Intellectual Property Organization, commonly relied upon by organisations globally to protect their brands and reduce the risk of misuse.

The reference to ‘reverse domain name hijacking’ is a sensationalist characterisation that we do not accept. The Panel’s views on this were not unanimous and turned on differing interpretations of the test applied under the domain dispute rules.

We will continue to take appropriate steps to protect our name and brand from misuse.