Hit for reverse domain name hijacking — AUSACORP, S.L.

Barcelona firm files cybersquatting claim in abuse of the UDRP.

AUSACORP, S.L. has been found to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking in a cybersquatting dispute it filed over the domain name Excelway.com.

The firm started a brand called Excelway but didn’t inform the World Intellectual Property Organization panel regarding the date it originated the brand. It appears to have been sometime this decade but the owner of Excelway.com registered the domain in 2003.

AUSACORP tried to buy the domain and the domain owner responded with a counter-offer. The firm then filed the UDRP but didn’t mention its overture to buy the domain. Instead, it stated that the domain owner tried to sell it to them.

Given that the domain appears to have been registered ahead of the brand existed, the domain couldn’t have been registered in bad faith. Furthermore, the panel found that AUSACORP filed the complaint in abuse of the policy (reverse domain name hijacking):

In this case, the Panel considers that the Complainant omitted or misrepresented key communications between the Complainant and the Respondent. The Complainant’s earlier offer to purchase the Disputed Domain Name was only disclosed by the Respondent. The Panel considers the Complainant filed the Complaint only following a number of failed attempts to purchase the Disputed Domain Name at what it considered to be a reasonable price.

The Panel considers the Complainant launched the proceedings out of desperation as its prior attempt to purchase the Disputed Domain Name from the Respondent were unsuccessful but without a reasonable chance of success and as such in the circumstances constitutes an abuse of the administrative proceeding.

The Complainant was represented by Herrero & Asociados. The domain name owner represented himself.