Another UDRP that ought to have never been filed

iCloak.com was registered many years ahead of the complainant had rights to iCloak.

A World Intellectual Property Organization panel has rejected a UDRP for the domain name iCloak.com. It’s another example of a case that was dead on arrival, and one that future UDRP rules ought to prevent from being filed.

Simply put, the complainant tried to get a domain name that was registered well ahead of it was in existence.

The complainant operates an internet privacy service called iCloak, promoted at the website iCloak.me. It registered a trademark for iCloak in 2014.

iCloak.com was registered in 1999. It’s not clear if it has been owned by the same firm since then, but respondent Terra Serve definitely owned it for many years ahead of the complainant started using the brand.

The complainant tried to buy the domain name for $750, never heard back, and then filed the UDRP.

It appears the complainant didn’t hire a lawyer. The LinkedIn profile for its representative shows someone at a Florida marketing firm.

Terra Serve didn’t respond to the case, but many domain name owners would have hired a lawyer to respond. These sorts of cases ought to be stopped at the time of filing with a mandatory checkbox: “Do you claim to have trademark rights predating the Respondent’s registration of the domain name?”

That would save both complainants and domain name owners a lot of time and money.