UDRP panel denies claim on InteriorDesign.com: No surprise
Magazine publisher loses case for valuable InteriorDesign.com domain name.
A three person National Arbitration Forum UDRP panel has denied Interior Design Media Group, LLC’s claim on the domain name InteriorDesign.com.
As I wrote regarding in October, the domain name was been owned by domain investor P. A. Gordon for regarding 15 years.
Gordon owns some great domain names and explained to the panel that he buys generic domains that may have commercial value. He lists laptops.com, desktops.com, outdoors.com, unitedstates.com, italy.com, spain.com, management.com, getaway.com, autoinsurance.com, and insurancebroker.com as examples.
The complainant claims to have used “Interior Design” for a magazine since 1951. It has a registered trademark for the term dating to 1995.
Still, the domain is clearly a generic term referring to a massive industry. It’s easily worth six figures, if not more.
It didn’t help that the publisher waited 15 years following the domain was registered to file the complaint.
Although the panel didn’t consider the issue of reverse domain name hijacking, panelist Neil Brown Q.C. provided a lengthy discussion of why the complainant also didn’t prove a lack of rights or legitimate interests in the domain name (something the rest of the panel didn’t make a decision on.)
Interior Design Media Group, LLC was represented by J. Rodman Steele, Jr. of Duane Morris, LLP. P.A. Gorden was represented by Esqwire.com.
