Firm guilty of reverse domain hijacking following refiling case
Domain owner forced to defend himself twice despite unchanged facts.
A firm that sells an organic fertilizer has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking following filing a UDRP for the second time.
GBI Prosperities Pty Ltd. and Dr Grow It All Sales Pty Ltd. filed the UDRP against the owner of doctorgrowitall.com and drgrowitall.com. The domains are registered by a former business associate.
One of the complainant’s principals, Danny Hood, filed a UDRP over DrGrowItAll.com in 2013. He represented himself, and the panelist in that case noted that Hood really phoned it in. The panelist stated the complaint “barely” met the qualifications of a UDRP filing.
The complainants stated there were a few reasons it ought to be able to refile the case. One is that the second domain was added. Another is that it wasn’t represented by counsel the first time and that its initial case was so poorly presented it ought to have been rejected as an invalid case. The third is that the complainants are different since the first time it was an individual and now it’s a firm.
The facts of the case did not change between the two filings.
Panelist Warwick A. Rothnie noted that the respondent had to defend himself twice thanks to the refiled complaint, and found the complainant to have filed the dispute in bad faith.
This case might make for a fresh type of RDNH category at RDNH.com — refiling cases.
