Loses domain name spat with ex-husband — Darley Newman

Travel show host states her ex-husband ought to hand over domain names.

Darley Newman, who hosts the PBS and Amazon Prime series Travels with Darley, has lost a cybersquatting dispute she filed against her ex-husband, Chip Ward.

Newman filed the dispute over five domain names: darleynewman.com, darleynewman.org, equitrekking.com, equitrekking.org, and travelswithdarley.com. (Equitrekking was a previous show.)

The Complainant stated that the domains ought to be transferred to her on the basis of a divorce agreement. Ward disagreed.

World Intellectual Property Panelist Scott Blackmer denied the claim since Newman didn’t show that Ward registered the domains in bad faith. One of the elements of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) is that the domains were registered and use in bad faith.

As is common in disputes like this one, the domains were originally registered in good faith, even if the Complainant now argues that they are being held or used in bad faith.

In other words, UDRP is not the appropriate venue to get these domain names. The courts are.