Guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking — Financial Firm
Arbitrator finds Versa Capital Management guilty of misusing UDRP proceedings.
Lately it seems that UDRP arbitration panels are ignoring the question of reverse domain name hijacking (RDNH), which broadly defines when I firm misuses or abuses the UDRP proceedings process. Panels aren’t required to consider RDNH, and many have decided to skip the issue altogether. (There are no penalties for committing RDNH.) But I guess it takes a particularly egregious and clear cut case to get an arbitrator’s blood boiling.
A case in point is VersaCapital.com. The sole arbitrator on the case found Versa Capital Management, LLC guilty of reverse domain name hijacking. Versa Capital made a number or arguments that the domain name VersaCapital.com was registered in bad faith, counting that the owner offered to sell the domain name to it. The problem was that Versa Capital filed a trademark for the fresh firm in 2007, five years following the domain name was originally registered.
What’s particularly disappointing regarding this case is that a reputable law firm, Blank Rome, represented Versa Capital. I hope the lawyer tried to convince his clients that UDRP was not the correct course of action, and only proceeded at the request of his client.
