To recover tilt.com through cybersquatting dispute — Airbnb fails

Firm states the domain name was stolen.

Airbnb, Inc. has failed to recover the domain name tilt.com, which it states was stolen from it, through a cybersquatting complaint.

The firm filed a UDRP dispute with National Arbitration Forum. Airbnb purchased the domain name when it bought social payments firm Tilt in 2017.

The thief tried to sell the domain to domain investor James Booth this year, but the transaction was put on ice once the parties became aware that it might be a stolen domain.

Greenberg & Lieberman, which runs the escrow service escrow.domains, was the escrow service for the transaction and is now listed as the owner. The firm has been working to return the domain to Airbnb, but Airbnb decided to try to recover it with a UDRP.

UDRP was created for clear-cut cybersquatting cases, and this dispute doesn’t fall within its limited purview.

Airbnb argued that rejecting this case could allow domain thieves to transfer domains to third parties that hold a domain in bad faith. The panel rejected this slippery slope argument and stated potential future cases shouldn’t impact the correct decision in this case.