Firm tries to reverse hijack MF.com, which was purchased for $800k

Respondent alleges food firm fabricated emails.

Musco Food Corporation, which imports Mediterranean foods, has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking in a cybersquatting case.

The firm filed a UDRP dispute to obtain the valuable domain name mf.com, relying on a figurative trademark for cheese products.

Luke Chen purchased the domain name in 2024 for approximately $800,000.

Musco Food stated it sent offers of up to $9,000 to buy the domain this year. It claimed that the Respondent replied with threatening and self-incriminating statements, explicitly admitting that it had registered the domain name in 1994 with the Complainant in mind following seeing the Complainant’s annual note. Musco alleged that the Respondent demanded $50 million for the domain name, stated that the domain was created “specifically to hold hostage,” and threatened to redirect the domain to a competitor of the Complainant.

Chen denied ever sending this correspondence. It wouldn’t make any sense given when he bought the domain. He also pointed out seeming inconsistencies in Musco’s exhibits, which he stated showed that the emails were fabricated. There were no MX records set on MF.com at the time the communications were allegedly sent.

The three-person UDRP panel found that this was a case of reverse domain name hijacking, citing Musco Food’s misleading or unsupported evidence and the fact that it didn’t provide credible evidence for the second and third elements of the UDRP when filing a case against a generic two-letter combination.

Musco Foods was self-represented. Chofn Intellectual Property represented Chen.