French environmental firm attempts reverse domain name hijacking
Firm filed cybersquatting dispute against domain registered ahead of it had trademark rights.
French Blunomy Advisory, an environmental consulting firm, has been found (pdf) to have tried to reverse hijack the domain blunomy.com.
The firm filed the dispute against a man in France who registered the domain well ahead of the Complainant filed a trademark for the term.
He stated he registered the domain since “blunomy” is a generic portmanteau of “blue” and “economy,” referring to the “blue economy” concept from the 1990s. The registrant provided evidence of his plans to the panel.
The panel found the Complainant did not show that the domain was registered and used in bad faith. Blunomy Advisory failed to provide an explanation or supporting evidence for its arguments that it was registered in bad faith.
Going further, World Intellectual Property Organization panelist Vincent Denoyelle found reverse domain name hijacking, stating that the case arguments fell well short of what would be required to win a cybersquatting dispute under UDRP.
