A UDRP has just been filed against the domain name Marker.com by Marker Völkl (International) GmbH.
The owner of the domain name is Tucows.com who is using the domain name in its Hover service, and is advertised as:
“Welcome to marker.com
This domain is available for a personalized email address.
This domain is part of an exclusive collection of “shared” personal names that allows multiple users to have simple, memorable email addresses, such as you@marker.com, all sharing the same domain name.”
Of course the term Marker is a dictionary word and has many other meanings.
However the term Marker is subject to a Benelux trademark.
The offical site of the complainant is voelkl.com which is the brand name of a ski, snowboard company.
From their site:
“Whether skis, snowboards or sportswear – everything with the Völkl brand is the result of tireless research and development efforts. Völkl embodies quality products & German Precision. This label isn’t lip service as far as we’re concerned, but a tried and tested reality. As the only manufacturer still developing and making skis in Germany, we regard “”Made in Germany”” as a commitment to quality workmanship and as a promise of quality to you, our customers.
The driving force behind our innovations is competition; in both World Cup alpine skiing as well as professional freeskiing and snowboarding – we are steadily forging ahead with new developments. But snow professionals aren’t the only beneficiaries of our technological edge–you can feel it too as you glide down the slopes, whether you’re hard-carving your turns or taking each curve leisurely and in stride. Völkl skis optimise your performance to maximise your fun on the snow. ”
I have no idea of why this company thinks they are entitled to a generic word that is not even its brand.
The domain is clearly being used for non-infringing purposes, and we hope Tucows asks for and get a finding of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH).
Amen to that!
Clear case of RDNH. They need to fire the lawyer.
So a registrar doesn’t park its names but sets up a shit email service and this counts as bone fide use and not hoarding.
Whatever. I guess it’s more useful than Yummy Yummy Make Mo Money Names.
I would never throw one ounce of support Tucows way whether they deserve it or not. I want to setup a collection to bribe the panel just to swing the vote…
Unknown
Personally I don’t want panels now to be set up to decide if domains are going to great sites or shitty sites
The standard is legitimate use, which this clearly is in a non-infringing way and the TM being a Benelux one is pretty weak especially considering the company has a completely different brand for its products and already owns the .com of that.
“I have no idea of why this company thinks they are entitled to a generic word that is not even its brand.”
UDRP isn’t a question of brand it’s a question of Trademark.
Did you even look at MarkerLtd.com MarkerApparel.com?
I believe that’s their US distribution arm since 2010.
So what’s their brand again?
This would be like saying LVMH.com has nothing to do with the Loius Vuitton brand.
What may stop the abuse of UDRP taking of generic domains on US based trademarks: Find a way to obtain standing and file a cancellation proceeding at the USPTO. Especially for generic words that cannot be taken out of English language by a trademark. Especially for tms on Supp Register and for generic trademarks on the Fed register not yet at the 5 year mark. That will be a wakeup call to these reverse domain hijackers. A few cancellation proceedings will resonate quickly and word will spread.
Even a generic word domain hit by UDRP. To avoid this, we need to develop the domain with our own unique content..
@Unknown
Who should own ‘Apple.com’ … Apple Computer, or Apple Records? (The latter is ‘AppleRecords.com.’)
Getting Marker.com isn’t going to help Marker Apparel, Ltd. If people really want to order from Marker’s website so badly, they’ll type in ‘MarkerLtd.com’ or ‘MarkerApparel.com’ once, and then bookmark it. That way they’ll never have to worry about typing in the extra ‘Ltd’ or ‘Apparel’ part of the domain name again.
My guess though, is that most people buy Marker’s products from stores or other sources, since Marker’s “official site,” with an Alexa rank of nearly 6 million, doesn’t seem to be overly popular.
Alexa Traffic Rank: 1,083,092 Traffic Rank in DE: 107,557 of voelkl.com, so I don’t see how you could get only 6 million!
@Louise
Alexa shows MarkerApparel.com (which is where MarkerLtd.com forwards to) as close to 6 million.
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/markerapparel.com
I didn’t look at Voelkl.com, but you’re right, it’s close to a million, globally. Still nothing to really brag about, traffic wise.
aint no shame in udrp game
Irish.Me, which offers similar service using Name.ly/PRO also resells emails and subdomains, building the community, helping people to express themselves and makes a bit of a profit on the way.
So what if some company in Austria decides to trademark the word Irish for say sweaters – can they claim Irish.Me as a competitor?
Doesn’t make much sense.
Shame domain hijacking itself is not a criminal act, yet.
And a question of legitimate use and of bad faith, things the complainant has to prove.
@ domainer said
It’s ICANN/Verisign you should be mad at! When ICANN makes the threshhold of udpr so low as far as validity and filing fee of complaint, it send the message: “we are redistributing dot coms – come and get them!” Almost I don’t blame Saveme.com.br BECAUSE ICANN SENDS MIXED SIGNALS.
Ever since I started reading the domain blogs, and hand registering domains, I sent copies to all the major domain bloggers of what ICANN / Verisign is attempting to do with Verisign’s BTAPPA, how the amendment passed though comments against it were unanimous.
ICANN will confer on its insiders access to the domains of investors, labeling investors, “squatters.” Let’s see what is happening with Tucows, now that ICANN finds Tucows in violation of the RAA.
@Grim
“Who should own Apple.com? ”
It’s really a pretty bad example given that millions of dollars have been expended and changed hands between the companies in various litigation since 1980’s.
I believe that Apple ultimately bought the rights through litigation and settlements.
I don’t believe that I said that the Marker group has immediate rights to the name. I don’t believe they do. What I do believe is that someone needs to hold Tucows responsible for essentially fucking around on the fringes of acceptable behavior.
I think the UDRP process is a sham. I think the trademark and patent systems are shams. I think Tucows is a company that hasn’t innovated in a legitimate way since I can remember.
Hover? YummyNames? Please.
Missed this one – Should I expect a claim on BookMarker.com next ?
Good day! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be okay. I’m definitely enjoying your blog
and look forward to new updates.