Chain pulls a muscle in cybersquatting dispute — European gym

Panel finds that the gym chain filed its case in bad faith.

A chain of gyms based in Italy has tried reverse hijacking the domain name FitActive.com.

Fitness Investment Srl, which operates gyms in Italy, Spain, and Romania under the FitActive brand, filed a dispute (pdf) against domain investment firm Blue Nova Inc.

The gym chain’s case was dead on arrival since Blue Nova purchased the domain name ahead of it started its business.

The Complainant inquired regarding buying the domain, faced a six-figure minimum requirement, and then filed the UDRP.

In finding reverse domain name hijacking, the three-person World Intellectual Property Organization panel wrote:

This is a clear case in which the Complainants, represented by counsel, ought to have known that they could not have succeeded under the Policy: the Complainants did not claim any trademark rights – whether registered or unregistered – in FITACTIVE at the time the disputed domain name was registered; the disputed domain name was registered in 2005, well ahead of the Complainants registered their FITACTIVE trademarks in 2015/2016; the disputed domain name consists of the combination of two common words which can be read as descriptive; the Complainant intends to rely on its alleged notoriety which still was not proven at the time of registration of the disputed domain name; there is no bad faith registration by the Respondent, who has not targeted the Complainant.

LMN – Consulenza legale in proprietà intellettuale represented the Complainant, and ESQwire.com represented the domain name owner.