According to a post on the site of the law firm Lewis & Lin, the domain owner of MyArt.com who lost a UDRP in April, filed a lawsuit in federal court and not only stopped the transfer of the domain name but got an award of statutory damages, attorney’s fees and litigation costs.
David Lin, Esq. writing on his firm’s site in a post entitled: “Reverse Domain Hijacking Defendants Consent to Judgement” says:
“After losing a UDRP proceeding by default, the owners of MyArt.com retained Lewis & Lin to stop the transfer of the domain name under ICANN rules.
Lewis & Lin immediately filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against My Art SAS, a French company engaged in the sale of artwork, and its principal shareholder. Our complaint sought relief for reverse domain name hijacking under the Lanham Act, as well as related state unfair competition claims.
Barely a month after being served with the complaint, defendants issued an offer of judgment consenting to all of the declaratory relief that we sought on behalf of our client.
Defendants also offered a monetary judgment in an amount that included statutory damages, attorney’s fees and litigation costs. The offer of judgment was accepted and judgment was entered in favor of our client.
This case illustrates that a UDRP loss has absolutely no bearing on subsequent litigation between the same parties and the same domain name. A UDRP panel’s decision, which is not based on U.S. trademark law, will be entitled to no deference, and will have no preclusive effect in a federal court case. For domain name registrants who fall victim to the efforts of reverse domain hijackers attempting to seize a domain in the UDRP process, there is hope to recover a hijacked domain.
Simply by filing a federal lawsuit and requiring the attempted hijacker to defend their actions, a domain name registrant can keep what’s rightfully theirs. For more information on reverse domain hijacking and the UDRP, contact David Lin at Lewis & Lin LLC.”
We are thrilled that a domain name owner stood up for his rights, took the horrible UDRP decision to court and not only quickly got the transfer of the domain name stopped but also got damages, attorney fees and costs.
Big congrats to
This is a big win! Congrats to the owner and the law firm.
Indeed a very good decision by the court. Any idea of how much damages and litigation cost were involved in this case.
On a separate note, owner should have responded to the UDRP. Anyhow he got what he wants in the end.
This type of decision will send a message to those attempting spurious UDRP complaints to either buy the domain or look for a reasonable alternative.
Glad to hear this. Goes to show that responding to a UDRP is important as is having more than a one member panel. Taking them to court was a good decision.
Congrats to all. This is a VERY BIG win and will help many of us in the future.
Well done!!!!
can anybody please enligten what’s the ballpark for atorney fees and the fees for the making the federal court look in to such thinhs?
USA!
That’s nice win and great news for domainers!
Good Stuff Brett – getting your fees from opposition certainly should qualify it for Rick’s Wall of shame.
Domenclature – USA USA USA USA.
I would rather not have a chance in winning a world cup – but have a chance in our court system 🙂