Trademark holders, god love them.
I still have a hard time understanding how large companies think, operate and spent their money when it comes to domain name and brand protection.
Today we have a company Consumentenbond of The Hague, who has a trademark on the term Consumentengids that went out and spent thousands of dollars in filing and attorney fees and won a UDRP on the domain name ConsumentengidsOnline2013.com.
“By registering the disputed domain name and using it to garner revenue via an online auction website, it is clear that the Respondent was attempting to divert Internet traffic intended for the Complainant’s website to its own for commercial gain by creating a likelihood of confusion as to the source or sponsorship of the Respondent’s website. Such use constitutes bad faith under paragraph 4(b)(iv) of the Policy.”
Really how much traffic type in traffic could this domain name ConsumentengidsOnline2013.com possibly receive in a year? (the domain has no Alexa, Compete or Quaincast ranking).
It would take someone over a minute to type in the 29 character domain name if they could do it without making a typo, and while I could see why the company would want the domain name ConsumentengidsOnline.com (which the company does own,) who would type the trademark add the term online and then the year into their browser?
Even so its already September, so 2013 is 75% over.
Here is the kicker.
ConsumentengidsOnline2014.com is available to be registered.
So while the company felt it was important enough to spend thousands of dollars to get the domain name ConsumentengidsOnline2013.com when he year is 3/4 over, they didn’t think it was worth $10 to get the same name for next year ConsumentengidsOnline2014.com or just haven’t thought to register the domain since its only 2013.
I guess they trademark holder will just wait until someone registers ConsumentengidsOnline2014.com and then spend thousands of more dollars to get that domain sometime in mid or later 2014.
I am sure they just even know they got this domain. Their lawyers are just wasting their legal budget for 2013. They will spend their 2014 budget on ConsumentengidsOnline2014.com. Most large firms are like this.
And even if they know they got the domain then they have no idea what the value of such a domain is or how much it “hurts” them.
Why ?
Because companies have to defend their brands and make an example out of somebody from time to time.
But they are more reactive than proactive. It doesn’t make sense to register all possible variations and typos. It would be an administrative nightmare, and there is always an idiot somewhere who’ll be willing to buy domains that the TM holder didn’t secure.
Had the respondent been in the Netherlands they could have sued for damages.
While some complainants are going straight for the jugular, a C&D would normally be sent prior to launching an expensive UDRP. If the dispute escalates to UDRP it usually means the domain holder ignored the warnings shots or didn’t comply.
what Kate said…
Precedent.
Precedent doesn’t really matters in blunt tm cyber-squatting.
It only matters if you want to file a UDRP for one specific generic domain and you file 20 UDRPs in NAF for stupid domains so that you will get preferential treatment. If the Respondent doesn’t reply or if Respondent doesn’t pick a 3 member panel then the Complainant will get the Panelist of their choice and win the domain.
This case is plain stupid.
Attorney may have just solicited then and they just fillled out the form and entered their credit card number.
Who has the right to decide what a company should or shouldn’t do?
What’s stupid or not?
Stupid to defend their I.P.?
Really?
Isn’t this a clear black and white case?
at times I feel domainers are baffled and upset because some companies prefer to fight it rather than surrender to the opportunistic greedy squatters, same people that have
domainers’ reputation at the same level as used car salespeople…
Cybersquatting (also known as domain squatting), according to the United States federal law known as the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, is registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name with bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else.
Domo
The company can do whatever they want its there money
Is it stupid not to register a domain for $10 and wait for someone else to register it and then spend $5K to get.
In my book yes.
As we speak….How many tens of thousands of TM infringing domains are registered? (if not hundreds of thousands)…?
The fact that in every single instance a company failed to beat the cybersquater to the punch…
and then decided to do something about it (or not)… constitutes an act of stupidity?
Have you ever done something that didn’t make monetary sense?
Domo
Million and million of TM domains is the answer
Have you ever done something that didn’t make monetary sense?
Too many times to count
However I see the waste and the cost and know they can get a better result for a lot less money
Based on your logic every single WIPO/UDRP case is an act of stupidity?
and a waste of money
How can they get better results?
now imagine the Plethora of probabilities with the New and upcoming gTLDs
Good grief!
Lawyers and squatters Cornucopia….
Domo
I have been writing this blog for over 5 years where do you get that every WIPO/UDRP is stupid?
Many times it takes the TM holder way too long to bring a case
Sometimes they have allowed cybersquatters to hold domains for 5+ year & make a ton of money and encouraging more cybersquatting other times they allow domains that are available for $10 to be registered instead of registering them.
In this case yes its a stupid waste of money to spend $3K-$5k to get the domain name ConsumentengidsOnline2013.com and not even go out and registered ConsumentengidsOnline2014.com for $10
What I am saying is:
If this UDRP is stupid because it was preventable… then so is every other UDRP/WIPO?
isn’t?
If this UDRP is stupid because there is similar domains available to be registred…
show me any pending WIPO /UDRP and I guarantee you I will find you similar unregistered domains.
I just fail to see what’s is the big deal.
The fact is, the vast majority of WIPOs are a waste of money. TM holders pay too much money to secure domains that are crap most of the time, and will often be dropped later…
But it keeps the lawyers busy (and happy) 🙂
And it’s no wonder that some TM holders are now going straight for the jugular and sue for damages, so as to make an example out of somebody, and make some money.
A few companies are UDRP regulars and at some point, they may very well get fed up with this game and raise up the ante.