Fired.com: 2008 Domain Dunce Awards

“Sorely misguided” complainant loses bid for Fired.com.

[This is the second Domain Dunce award for 2008. See the first one for Verizon.] What do you do if you want a domain that’s by now registered and you don’t want to pay for it? Furthermore, you have no chance of winning a UDRP arbitration since the domain was registered years ahead of your first use of the domain? And the domain is generic? And it isn’t infringing on your brand?

As stated by World2Work, you go ahead and file a UDRP.

I read through many UDRP domain name cases this year, and Fired.com may take the cake for most egregious attempt to steal a domain name. World2Work, founded by Scott Sargis, operates Fired.tv. It wanted Fired.com, so Sargis enlisted his lawyer John Franczyk to go following the domain. They believed that they ought to get the domain since the current owner hadn’t used it yet.

The arbitration panel found that World2Work didn’t fulfill the first requirement of an arbitration case (that the domain was confusingly similar to its trademark) so it didn’t even consider the other two requirements. It’s rare that a case doesn’t even pass the first hurdle.

The panel stated Sargis and Franczyk were “sorely misguided” in their understanding of trademarks and domain names.

By the way, Fired.com’s owner has put it up for sale.