A UDRP has just been filed by SMA Solar Technology AG for the three letter domain, SMA.com
Here’s the really scary part
The owner of the domain is not a domainer.
The domain is owned by Specialized Micro Architects, a company’s who initials match the domain SMA.
The domain was first registered in 1995.
The oldest record on DomainTools.com for the domain is from 2001 and at that time the current domain owner owned the domain.
The domain does not currently resolve and Screenshots.com had nothing on file for the domain.
A quick check of the USPTO found 19 live trademark for the term SMA.
This is getting crazy! I understand protecting your trademark, but how can this one even get past a first look.
Isn’t part of the defense that the domain is being ‘actively used’? The domain has no valid DNS records.
The time has come for these “Domain Stealing Organizations” to be Legally Challenged.
They need to be Investigated, reorganized and heavily regulated.
Acro
There is no rule that if you don’t use a domain you lose it
Like I said there are 19 TM for the term just in the US, how does this company that likely owned the domain since 1995 which initials match its corporate name lose it based on TM?
This is getting ridiculous.
Brad
So someone builds a nice – let say 5-star hotel – and the lot next door is not used for 17 years – and the hotel wants to expand – that is their claim – eminent domain !
Who stands to benefit the most from this game? Will they do anything to curb it, doubt it.
it certainly has a dns record. there’s no requirement that a domainname has to have an associated website. many are just used for email. nor is there any requirement that the nameservers provided to the registry actually work. some people list private nonroutable addresses or even 0.0.0.0 as their nameserver ip’s. a domainname represents an ip address, several of them. nothing says the ip address even has to be reachable. and an ip address can be used for lots of things. a website in only one of them.
Mike, I didn’t say that one would lose a domain by not using it, but rather, that by displaying use it would be part of one’s defense against such claims. For better or worse, “use” is mostly an active port 80 to serve traffic over http. This domain has no active nameservers for at least 10 years.http://web.archive.org/web/20010720062253/http://sma.com/
yes – there is no dns record. Run dig, nslookup and traceroute and tell me what you’re getting.
acro –
in the offchance that some panel finds a legitimate claim here – the fact that apparantly the dns is and has been dead forever may work to the respondents advantage – they forgot about it ?
Sick UDRP. So many lately the entire system should be shelved and you should be required to file in federal court.
ICANN is MORPHING to ICANN 2.0
Soon they will not even need UDRP – domains will just be given (secretly) to those with the deepest pockets. Domains are also being secretly taken down or taken. You do not really **own** your domains.
That is essentially what is happening with Top Level Domains.
Do you think ICANN is telling anyone what agencies are NOW culling thru the Applicant’s data (aka intelligence information) ? Do you think the current delay is for the reasons ICANN has stated ?
You are networking with SPOOKS.
Hi Scott –
In the USA it is not about right or wrong – it is about how much justice you can afford – just one of the rules we all play by – UDRP is not legal binding – seriously – how fairis it for a panalist to make an in depth fr $500-$1000 or whatever.
I expect a day will come that some company wrongly UDRPs a person that is unstable and maybe having financial and marriage problems, has put their life’s sweat into a domain/website, and that person takes justice into his or her own hands after seething over the notion that they now have to deal with a damn domain thief.
Modern living dictates for many : Domains = Websites = $$$ = Life.
Disrupt that and you may have to deal with a very bitter person with nothing left to lose.
I would not be surprised to see a violent attack upon a Claimant or everyone in their office to a UDRP one day, God forbid. You know how society is these days, just watch TV.
acro, got 2 ns’s from 192.5.6.30:
ns1.sma.com 12.109.151.91
ns2.sma.com 207.79.164.76
can’t get a response from either of these. doesn’t necessarily mean they are offline. just means i can’t get a response from my ip.
not suggesting that you aren’t raising an interesting issue for a udrp. how many have we seen with no website? just wanted to say
there does appear to be a rr for this name in the com zone.
SMA Solar Technologies are a German company and their site is sma.de.
They obviously want to ‘up grade’ by buying a lottery ticket !!!
@mike
“how does this company that likely owned the domain since 1995 which initials match its corporate name”
Its corporate name where?
@brian
“the fact that apparantly the dns is and has been dead forever may work to the respondents advantage – they forgot about it ?”
If there is no MX record for the domain, and the admin contact is mikep@sma.com, then this isn’t UDRP material as much as it is WDPRS material.
There is no obligation to operate a website, of course, but there is an obligation to maintain accurate WHOIS data.
John
The owner of the domain corporate name is:
Specialized Micro Architects (SMA)
@mike
Incorporated where? I’m not getting where you are determining this is a corporate entity.
John
Its the name of the business in VA
I don’t know if its a corporation, LLC, fictitious name or incorporated in another state
They have most likely owned the domain since 1995 and where was the german company all this time and out of the 19 TM holders for the term in the US alone why are they entitled to the domain?
“SMA Solar Technologies are a German company and their site is sma.de.
They obviously want to ‘up grade’ by buying a lottery ticket !!!”
Cheap ass tactics to steal someone else’s domain for cheap more like it.
Someone should call SMA and warn them. If their whois info isn’t updated correctly, they could very well not be able to respond to this.
I would hate to see them lose this domain.