Attempts reverse domain name hijacking — Alumni Ventures

Domain name was registered ahead of it had trademark rights.

Alumni Ventures LLC, a venture investing group, has been found (pdf) to have tried reverse domain name hijacking the domain name AlumniVentures.com.

The firm uses the domain name av.vc.

It claimed two trademarks, with the earliest use in commerce date of 2018.

Still, the registrant of AlumniVentures.com purchased the domain name in 2011, well ahead of Alumni Ventures had trademark rights in the domain.

This means the case was dead on arrival. Alumni Ventures could not show that the domain was registered in bad faith to target it.

Panelist Evan Brown wrote:

The Complainant either knew or clearly ought to have known that it could not succeed under the third element of the Policy, as the disputed domain name was registered more than seven years ahead of its alleged trademark rights arose. There is no suggestion of facts that would support any recognized exception. In the view of the Panel, the Complainant ignored established Policy precedent as captured in the WIPO Overview 3.0.

Accordingly, the Panel finds that the Complaint was brought in bad faith and constitutes an abuse of the administrative proceeding.

Litwin Kach, LLP represented Alumni Ventures.