Fight with Frank Schilling — Locksmiths “pick”
…and they lose.
IDN, Inc., the firm that runs Locksmith Dealers of America (LSDA), picked a fight with the wrong guy. (Sorry, I couldn’t help it.)
The firm filed a UDRP against Frank Schilling’s Name Administration over the domain name LSDA.com.
Apparently IDN, Inc. decided that 2012 was a good year to create a web site following many years in business. Hey, better late than never.
But it wanted the short and simple domain LSDA.com. It offered up to $5,000 (with a threat of legal action otherwise) to Schilling.
Frank Schilling registered the domain name way back in 2001. He wasn’t going to bite.
The panel obviously decided with Schilling on this one, writing:
The Panel agrees with the Respondent that the evidence on record demonstrates that Respondent registered an inherently valuable short domain name more than a decade ago and Respondent’s use of the disputed domain name is clearly not violative of Complainant’s trademark or service mark rights.
IDN is apparently changing its business model as it previously did much of its business through distributors. Hence its desire for the domain, but also a red flag in for the three person arbitration panel:
Moreover, as the record shows, the disputed domain name was registered in 2001. The Complainant argued that in previous years, much of the Complainant’s business for LSDA was done through distributor relationships. This assertion of the Complainant is in fact an admission of the fact that the Complainant was in no way primarily known to the consumers or to the Respondent. The Complainant goes further and explains, that only with the increasing use of the Internet in business, it desired to establish a website at a domain that reflected the principal trademark for LSDA products.
Name Administration pointed out some curious exhibits and assertions made by IDN. Given the clearly false statement by IDN that the domain was registered in 2006, I’m not inclined to give it any benefit of the doubt.
Schilling was represented by John Berryhill. IDN was represented by Dyan M. House of Carter Stafford Arnett Hamada & Mockler PLLC.
The panelists were Beatrice Onica Jarka, Hon. Neil Anthony Brown QC, and Hon. Bruce Meyerson.
