Up BME.com in WIPO Dispute — BMEzine.com Picks

Gregory Ricks loses three character domain name.

Long time domainer Gregory Ricks has lost the domain name BME.com to BMEzine.com, LLC. Ricks lost the case since of the content of recent parked pages on the domain and since the panel found that his initial registration in 2000 was not relevant since he transferred the domain between entities since then.

BMEzine.com is an ezine regarding body piercing, tattoos, etc. For the past couple years the domain has shown parked pages counting ads for “Tattoo supplies” and “body piercing”. That didn’t look good to the panel.

What is more interesting is that the panel found that the date of initial registration ought to not be 2000, when Ricks originally got the domain name. He’s transferred the domain between entities he owns and different privacy services since then. Since one of the transfers between privacy services happened following BMEzine filed a service mark for BME, the panel judged that he made the transfer solely to “conceal his identity as long as possible.” A footnote states the panel can’t explain why he moved the domain between entities a couple times prior to being contacted by BMEzine. I think this would be relevant to the case.

So here’s a case that shows once again how notable it is to protect three character domains. Had the ads on the parked pages had nothing to do with body art, my bet is Ricks would still own the domain.

Below: one of the parked pages from BME.com.