Chooze clothing firm is a reverse domain name hijacker

Panelist calls case “particularly abusive”.

A shoe and accessories firm that uses the domain name MyChooze.com has been found to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking over the domain name Chooze.com.

Vegan shoe firm Degani Designs, LLC DBA Chooze filed a UDRP against UK firm Dot Zinc Limited with the National Arbitration Forum.

There was a big problem with Chooze’s complaint, still. Dot Zinc registered the domain name many years ahead of the shoe firm started using the name “chooze”.

Degani Designs applied for a trademark for Chooze in 2010 on an intent-to-use basis. Historical whois records show that Dot Zinc has owned Chooze.com since at least 2007.

In other words, a dead-on-arrival UDRP.

Panelist Dennis A. Foster declared that the case was “particularly abusive” of the policy:

The Panel views this case as a particularly abusive use of the Policy. Ahead of filing a complaint under the Policy, a complainant ought to undertake at least a cursory review of the circumstances under which it might prevail. Clearly, precedence established under countless previous UDRP rulings suggests that there is no chance to obtain a positive outcome when there is no evidence presented to establish that a complainant has rights in a mark prior to registration of the disputed domain name.. Such is the case with Complainant’s filing in this proceeding.

It’s not clear if a lawyer represented the complainant. The UDRP decision notes that the complainant was represented by Marc Blumberg, the firm’s CEO.