A UDRP has just been filed against the domain name Wolfpack.com.
Wolfpack.com is a dictionary term which means “a group of wolves that live, feed, and travel as a family group”
The domain is going to a for sale page which says:
“One of the Best domains on the Internet Wolfpack is for sale for purchase $60,000 O.B.O.
The domain is owned by The Ascot Group, Inc of California which according to DomainTools.com has owned the domain since at least 2002.
The domain was registered in 1997.
According to Screenshots the for sale page has been up since at least August 2012 and parked prior to that.
The complainant is not listed.
There are at least 5 live trademarks for the term Wolfpack in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) with four different applicants.
The oldest trademark dating back to 1982 is by the North Carolina State University.
Here are just some of the meanings of the term according to wikipedia.org:
Entertainment
- Wolfpack, a Battletech novel written by Robert N. Charrette
- Wolfpack (Marvel Comics), a Marvel Comics title during the 1980s
- Wolfpack (video game), a 1990 submarine computer game
- Wolf Pack (Sonic the Hedgehog), a group of Freedom Fighters in the fictional Sonic the Hedgehog universe
- nWo Wolfpac, a subgroup within the New World Order professional wrestling stable
- Wolfbrigade, a Swedish crust punk band
- Wolfpack Studios, a video game company based in Austin, Texas
- Wolfpack, a demo and song (a live favorite) recorded by the band DYS
- “Wolfpack”, a song by Syd Barrett on his second and final studio album, Barrett
- “Wolfpack”, a song by Swedish band Sabaton on the album Primo Victoria
- “The Wolfpack”, a song by Norwegian band Satyricon on the album The Age of Nero
- Wolfpack, the United Kingdom title for the 1956 German film Teenage Wolfpack directed by Georg Tressler
- “Wolfpack”, the nickname given by Alan to the bachelor party group of Phil, Stu, Alan and Doug from the 2009 comedy film The Hangover
- AFO Wolfpack, one of two main AFOs in the video game “Medal of Honor (2010)“
Military
- Wolfpack (naval tactic), a system of submarine warfare used by the United States Navy and Germany during World War II
- 8th Fighter Wing, a United States Air Force unit nicknamed “Wolfpack”
- HMH-466, a United States Marine Corps helicopter squadron known as the Wolfpack
- HSL-45, a United States Navy Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (Light) known as the Wolfpack (see List of units of the United States Navy)
- Wolfpack (squadron), a U.S. Navy fighter squadron, 1972–1993
Sports
- NC State Wolfpack, the collegiate athletic teams that represent North Carolina State University
- Nevada Wolf Pack, the collegiate athletic teams that represent University of Nevada, Reno
- Loyola Wolfpack, the collegiate athletic teams that represent Loyola University New Orleans
- Thompson Rivers WolfPack, the collegiate athletic teams that represent Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia
- Wisconsin Wolfpack, an American football franchise based in Wisconsin
- Hartford Wolf Pack (formerly known as the Connecticut Whale), an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League
- Portland Wolfpack, a team in the now-defunct International Fight League and based in Portland, Oregon
- Lillehammer Wolfpack, an American football team based in Lillehammer, Norway
- “The Wolf Pack”, fanclub of Milwaukee Brewer pitcher Randy Wolf
- Wolfpack, a former group of devoted fans of the Kansas City Chiefs in the 1960s
Other uses
- Wolfpack, the codename for Microsoft Cluster Server
One question to people who own “good” domain names. WHY do you/they not trade mark the name yourself/ves ?. I ask this seriously because I see no bar to doing so, and would protect you.
And yes I would be happy to assist anyone in doing so ,for a small fee of course.
johnuk@ Contact details ?
@vendita auto Yes please post one of your domains and I will contact you via the whois ! Thanks
Can also get me on @CityLawFirm
@johnuk – you need to show use in commerce in order to get a trademark. unfortunately the uspto doesn’t believe that the business of parking your domain names to earn money from ppc ads is sufficient use in commerce to warrant a trademark.
Andrew ,I note and know what you say, but I am not speaking of US TM !!. Why would it have to be US ?
And I should say “@citylawfirm” is not meant to show me as a lawyer, because I am not and wouldnt be !!
Why buy a brand when you can steal one?
UDRP has gotten way out of hand at this point. ICANN has created a process that is being used to aid in the theft of generic assets. This is not what it was designed for.
UDRP is a kangaroo court with no precedents. It is way too easy for a rogue panelist to apply their own corrupt views with no recourse or accountability.
Bad rulings only encourage more bad filings. This is in the financial self interest of the panelists. It is a very warped system.
ICANN is far more interested in pimping the new gTLD program, which is in their financial interest, than they are in taking a common sense stance on what has been going on recently.
Brad
@brad what I would like to see is someone take either ICANN or one of the arbitration providers to Court. Yes I know that may be hard, but never say never ! Need to think what tack could be taken and how ,if ,could be done.
ICANN is biting the hand that feeds them. A large percentage (if not the majority) of domains are owned by domainers and if they will get discouraged and pull out from the business ICANN will be the first to suffer.
johnuk@ “@citylawfirm” acitylawfirm ? Sorry JohnUK need a stronger direct clue.
Its in your TOS when you register a domain that you accept to be governed by ICANN and UDRP is a part of it
Don’t forget that TM holders want UDRP reform also.
They want the bad faith requirement which most panels agree needs to be present at the date of registration and at the time of the claim to be either or rather than both and to restart the clock over again with each renewal.
If you want to have say in the process you should support the ICA once again the only organization representing domain holders rights against a huge trademark industry
@Vendita Auto Thats a Twitter site !. You can get me through there.
@Michael Berkens Yes of course. I am hoping that someone, anyone, could find a hole somewhere through which someone could get at them on some ground or other !.
The way UDRP is going wont be long before even the UDRP Complainants will be losing the domain after they’ve got (stolen) it thru UDRP ,and then were will we all be when domains arent safe from being grabbed.
Here’s why the UDRP process is completely nuts:
If alphabets and/or numbers .COM belong to Complainants, due to trademark of alphabets/or numbers without the .COM, it means that even when a domain name is not registered, which means that the unregistered domain name, such as O.com, belongs to anyone claiming the trademark for O.com; which means they could YANK it from ICANN, who is reserving O.com for themselves, for a rainy day. ICANN is the biggest domainer in the world! They own and sell more domains than any other entity, they, and what they don’t own they grab via their UDRPs or via their Registrars. yet it’s not enough! Now they are hawking new gTLDs for over $180,000, releasing thousands of these to pollute the internet.
We need congress to step in, and help.
” releasing thousands of these to pollute the internet.”
Had no idea .com owners care so much about the environment. But I’d take a clean .whatever over a crappy .com any day.
The concept of trademarking brands requires enforcing the mark. Domainers with valuable domains should develop them. Listing a “for sale” + price on a subjectively valuable domain is an open invitation for a UDRP.
@Acro
You didn’t touch my key points:
1. A trademark is a trademark. If it applies to a Registrant, why can’t a trademark holder demand that it apply to ICANN, and/or the Registry, even before the name is registered by a Registrant, or does the law only apply to the poor Registrant alone? For example C&H Sugar, can demand that ICANN and or the Registry turn over CH.com for free plus collection fees!
2. Before greedy people got a hold of the internet, and its governance, domain names were like Land, in real estate; you damn well do what you please with it, without breaking any laws. You landing-page it, leave it unresolved, develop it, or put a picture of your family on it, and it’s nobody’s business! And that’s when Americans were running it! It was internet of the free.
What good is your property if you have a bunch of people telling you what to do with it?
This is an extract from a German Appeals Court case which ordered a domain name handed back after loss at UDRP;
“This is another piece from the Judgment of the German Court regarding domains;
” trading with domain names is in principle permissible and also
constitutionally protected by Art. 12 and 14 GG (BGH GRUR 2009, 685 –ahd.de, Rn 45).”
Note “constitutionally protected” !!
Domenclature, try doing some of the following with real estate property:
1. Run a particular type of business in residential zoning.
2. Operate a sex toy store or other adult establishment within X,XXX feet of a school or church.
3. Leave your property in a bad, ungroomed state.
4. Put advertisements on your yard without permission from the HOA or county.
5. Etc.
I’m all for domainers’ rights vs. blatant trademark trolling, but the real estate example isn’t quite bullet proof.
On the other hands, gTLDs are now having a list of banned/blocked keywords across all applications. Individual gTLD registries are also expected to have trademark sunrise periods, catering to trademark holders.
In other words, there is less pollution with gTLDs, than before.
@Acro
I believe I emphasized “not breaking any laws” … in my post. Yes, there are ordinances, and land use rules, and even in certain cases, unnecessary hassle by HOAs, but, nothing of the sort of trend we see lately, from “internet judges” called UDRP, aiding unscrupulous Complainants covet Respondents’ names. These judges have raised the standard, not just by reversing the burden of proof standard normally resident with a complainant, not just by preponderance, it’s gone far beyond a Reasonable doubt, to one of No doubt at all, and on that is, apparently, for the Respondent to prove.
On the new gTLD issue, one must understand why we have the internet in the first place, rather than intranet; the balkanization of the internet is dumb. Are there a few virtues attained for the act? Probably.
But, over all, it’s a big mess, mainly vices.