Gaming PC firm “invents legal principles”, tries reverse domain name hijacking

Firm files cybersquatting claim against domain registered well ahead of it existed.

A Russian firm that makes gaming PCs has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking.

Khaiper PK, aka Hyper PC, filed the dispute against the domain name hyperpc.com following first inquiring regarding buying it.

FastHost Limited, a web hosting firm, registered the domain name in 1993. It used the domain as a hosting brand for a number of years and, following that, for part of its infrastructure.

The Complainant didn’t exist until 2010. This made the case dead on arrival since the domain couldn’t have been registered in 1999 to target the then-non-existent Complainant.

To get around this, the Complainant argued that there was a Whois update in March, 2025, suggesting that, “the Respondent either purchased, renewed, transferred, or otherwise modified the registration at a time when the Complainant’s HYPERPC trademark was by now well-established and widely known internationally.”

Even following the Respondent explained its long-running ownership of the domain, the Complainant doubled down in a supplemental filing.

In a lengthy reverse domain name hijacking explanation (pdf), World Intellectual Property Organization panelist John Swinson stated he had “little difficulty” finding RDNH.

He also noted that the Complainant “appears to just invent legal principles.”