Reglikedomain industry desk

French logistics firm Yper attempts to reverse hijack domain

French logistics firm Yper attempts to reverse hijack domain

Firm filed “Plan B” case following failing to buy domain name.

the words "reverse domain name hijacking" in pale yellow type on a black bacground, next to a graphic of a pirate face

A French delivery logistics firm, Yper SAS, has tried to upgrade its domain name through reverse domain name hijacking.

The firm operates on yper.fr and has been trying to acquire the domain name yper.com.

In fact, Yper has tried buying the domain on many occasions between 2020 and 2024 but stated the domain owner’s asking price of $120,000 was “unreasonable.”

It threatened to file a cybersquatting complaint and followed through by filing a dispute at World Intellectual Property Organization in November 2024.

There was a big problem for Yper SAS: the domain registrant registered the domain ahead of Yper existed. That makes it impossible to show that the domain was registered in bad faith to target the then-non-existent firm.

This is a classic case of “Plan B” reverse domain name hijacking, in which a firm files a losing cybersquatting complaint following failing to negotiate the purchase of a domain.

Panelist Kathryn Lee wrote:

Here, the disputed domain name was registered in 2010 while the Complainant was established and began using the YPER trademark in 2016, and the Complainant also acknowledges these facts in the Complaint. Therefore, without any arguments or evidence of a later buyout, the Complainant ought to have known that it could not succeed as to the bad faith element. For this reason, the Panel finds that this Complainant was brought in bad faith and constitutes Reverse Domain Name Hijacking.

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