Last week Michael wrote about the UDRP on Thesis.com.
In a very interesting UDRP, Chris Pearson who owns the WordPress Theme of Thesis, lost its bid to grab the domain name Thesis.com from the parent company that owns and operates WordPress, Automattic, Inc.
According to the UDRP, Respondent and Complainant were both approached by a third-party about purchasing the domain name thesis.com and Automattic, Inc. was the high bidder, paying $100,000.00 for the domain name
Chris Pearson gave his thoughts on his website Pearsonified.com. It is a very compelling read as Pearson details his talks with Larry Fischer from GetYourDomain.com on negotiating a purchase price. His history with WordPress and Automattic founder Matt Mullenweg. He details how an interview where he acted like an “asshole” cost him dearly and still has a lasting effect on him today.
From the article:
I brought up the trademark to Larry because even though I own the mark on thesis.com, it could be used for another business so long as it wasn’t a website software business. Automattic couldn’t use the mark unless they suddenly started selling tractors.
There was more back and forth, and Larry revealed that Matt had allegedly offered $100,000 for the domain. I still thought this was phony and just intended to get me to agree to a deal, but at least I now knew thesis.com could be had for far less than $150,000.
Unfortunately, further negotiations went nowhere, because although Larry had been willing to offer Matt a $100,000 deal, he was only willing to go down to $115,000 for me. That said, I didn’t think the domain was worth $100,000, much less $115,000!
I still assumed Matt was just a clever pawn to negotiate a higher price, and I made my final offer of $37,500.
Again, I didn’t see how Matt could justify buying the domain for $100,000. Because of my trademark, there was no way he could legally use the domain for Automattic, and therefore, I didn’t believe there was a reason for him to spend that much money.
Of course, Larry declined my offer, and I never heard from him again.
That is just one snippet from the article, the whole article I found to be an excellent read as Pearson details mistakes, regret and negotiating a domain deal that may be beneficial to some reading the article.
Read the full article here
so, findyourdomain just forwards an email from another prospective buyer to make a deal…
every party ends looking very good in this story…
Thesis forwards to a site about themes. Seems it actually is infringing.
Mike-
Can Chris not have the UDRP decision challenged, given it was determined on a very lame technicality (did not include proof of forwarding – what are these panelists smoking) ?
Excerpt from the biased UDRP ruling:
“The Panel notes that Complainant did not include an exhibit showing that thesis.com redirects to a webpage owned by Respondent. The Panel suggests that the submissions might point toward use by Respondent that would support findings of bad faith, pursuant to Policy §4(b)(iv) if evidence had been adduced to that effect. However, Complainant failed to bring that proof to the Panel.”
Are UDRP panelists nuts? The respondent (WordPress) already admitted to forwarding the complainant’s (Thesis) trademark domain (thesis.com) to a competing website owned by respondent in the same software market; yet UDRP panel rules no evidence of bad faith — in favor of WordPress?
I have always said this and would continue to do so, that — the UDRP panel are a bunch of biased and crooked panelists. ICANN should be ashamed of themselves, its policies and the people put in place to oversee decisions of the internet namespace.
It is unjust decisions like this that made a recent IRP ruling find ICANN guilty and order it to pay a huge sum of money. The whole UDRP panel system needs to be reshuffled, if not completely dissolved.
You can’t appeal a UDRP decision.
You can file a federal lawsuit to for declaratory judgement and stay the transfer of the domain but you only have 10 days from the date of the decision.
You can also file for a declaratory judgement upon receipt of a C & D type of letter and not even wait for the UDRP
Once you touch federal court you better budget at least $25K
Thanks Mike. They are still engaged in a “pissing contest” over on Chris’s site in the comments section. To my there really is no two sides to this story, Matt is what I’d classify as a “Super Jerk” a. la . Ellison in his younger days.
Can you help Chris, perhaps?
What was the point of doing a UDRP for a $100,000 domain? Even if the UDRP was lost, they would have taken it to Federal Court to stop the transfer for sure. The only way they could get this domain is in Federal Court.
TM status: Cancellation Pending
https://www.trademark247.com/thesis-85113269-1.html
https://www.trademark247.com/thesis+theme-85115266-1.html
If so, not much to go on?
The challenge to the Thesis TM looks to be completely bogus. Chris has to file a response and it should get resolved. Neither one of them are all that bright in things like this though, so anything could happen.
This is a game won by the smarter and richer side.
Sridhar
Well before I offer to help someone they would need to ask for my help which Chris has not. I’m certainly no going to chase someone to help them.
On the other hand Chris seems like a very smart guy and he has a few bucks.
If you read his story he elected not to buy the domain because he thought it was too much for it, which is his right of course, but he did not say he didn’t have the money to do so.
If Chris wants help he can afford to get some.