Stoppable, domain name panel rules — Fiskars is

Firm loses dispute for Unstoppable.com domain name.

Fiskars, a firm you most likely know for its scissors, has a trademark on “Unstoppable”. But a Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) panel has ruled that its rights to the term are stoppable.

The firm filed a cybersquatting complaint under UDRP against the owner of Unstoppable.com. Fiskars lost its case (pdf) despite the domain name owner not responding.

The panel ruled that Fiskars did not prove that the registrant of the domain name had registered and used it in bad faith. The firm provided documentation of two trademarks, but those weren’t registered until 2012 and 2013. The panel pointed out that the domain was registered in 1999. It appears the current owner purchased it in 2010. Regardless, the firm didn’t show use ahead of the domain was registered.

Even if Fiskars did show rights predating the registration, the panel determined that the term “unstoppable” is generic. Therefore, just using the term “unstoppable” in the domain would not prove that the respondent was aware of the complainant’s rights.

The panel also pointed out that the respondent is in Malaysia and Fiskars did not provide any evidence of the mark’s fame in that country.