Domain Name Wire | Domain Name News

Domain Name Industry News

Featured Domains

register.to

Pocketbook.com owner countersues ebook reader company

by — Policy & Law 2 Comments

Owner of valuable Pocketbook.com domain sues PocketBook International SA for alleged reverse domain name hijacking.

Image of Pocketbook eReader

The maker of PocketBook e-readers wants Pocketbook.com. The owner of the domain has countersued, claiming reverse domain name hijacking. Image from one of Pocketbook’s regional websites.

The owner of the valuable domain name Pocketbook.com has countersued PocketBook International SA, a company that sells ebook readers.

PocketBook International SA filed a UDRP against the domain name in 2019, and a three-person panel denied the complaint. The ebook company then filed a cybersquatting lawsuit in California.

Now the domain name owner, SiteTools, Inc., is countersuing (pdf) the ebook company. It claims that PocketBook International SA is attempting reverse domain name hijacking. SiteTools is asking the court to cancel PocketBook’s U.S. trademarks and to award up to $100,000 for reverse domain name hijacking, plus pay attorneys fees.

Pocketbook is, of course,  a great domain name for a financial website. And that’s how SiteTools is currently using the domain name. It also has a U.S. trademark.

Michael Rodenbaugh is representing SiteTools.

Pocketbook.com domain name saved in UDRP

by — Policy & Law 2 Comments

eBook company fails to get Pocketbook.com through UDRP.

Blue image with the letters UDRP

The owner of Pocketbook.com has successfully defended its domain name in a UDRP filed by Pocketbook International SA, which sells eBook readers under the brand name Pocketbook.

SiteTools, Inc., the owner of the domain name, has a trademark for the term Pocketbook.com. It acquired the domain name in 2010.

The three-member National Arbitration Forum panel found that Pocketbook International didn’t show that the owner lacked rights or legitimate interests in the domain name, and also didn’t show that it was registered and used in bad faith.

The Complainant was frustrated that some websites that meant to link to its products on pocketbook.ru accidentally linked to Pocketbook.com. How this is evidence that the Respondent did something wrong is beyond me.

It also claimed that the Respondent got a trademark for Pocketbook.com to frustrate the UDRP case. But it got it in 2012, which means it did a good job predicting a company would file a complaint seven years later.

An obvious use of Pocketbook.com—and the one for which the domain is currently being used—is for financial-related products.

The Complainant was represented by Anna M. Vradenburgh of One LLP. She appears to have worked with a number of law firms over the past decade. She has won some cases, but lost others including disputes over DeepThroat(.)com.

The Respondent was represented by John Berryhill.

Domain Name Wire | Domain Name News