Man files cybersquatting dispute against two letter domain matching his initials

Panelist finds “meritless” case was filed in bad faith.

An IT professional whose initials are KN tried to reverse hijack the domain name kn.uk, a Nominet Dispute Resolution Service panelist has ruled (pdf).

Keiran Nimmo argued that the domain name registration was abusive because it was identical to his personal identifier and was offered for sale. He didn’t provide evidence that he had a common law trademark in his name.

Behrendt Professional Corporation, a domain name investment company, owns the domain. It also owns the matching kn.co.uk domain.

Panelist Jane Seager had no difficulty finding that this was a case of attempted reverse domain name hijacking. She wrote:

The overall picture is of a complainant seeking to obtain a valuable two‑letter domain name through a complaint under the Policy without the necessary Rights and without evidence of abusive conduct by the Respondent. The Expert considers that the Complainant knew or ought to have known that absent proof of goodwill in “KN” and absent evidence of targeting, the Complaint had no realistic prospect of success. The Expert finds that bringing this Complaint in the face of those deficiencies constitutes an abuse of process. The Expert also notes that the Respondent has been put to unnecessary time, effort, and expense in investigating the allegations, preparing a Response, participating in mediation, and defending a meritless Complaint.