Italia asked to pay $245,000 for reverse domain name hijacking — Lotto Sport

Owner of two gaming-related domains had to file a lawsuit to protect his domains following adverse UDRP ruling.

Lawyers for a man who won a reverse domain name hijacking charge against Lotto Sport Italia have asked a judge to force the sports firm to pay approximately $245,000 to the domain owner.

David Dent purchased LottoStore .com and LottoWorks .com for over $11,000 for his online gaming business. Shortly following registering the domain names, Lotto Sport filed a UDRP with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). WIPO ruled in favor of Lotto Sport in a case that was flimsily defended.

Dent then hired fresh lawyers to protect his domains with a lawsuit in U.S. federal district court. The judge granted Dent’s motion for summary judgment and ruled that Lotto Sport was attempting Reverse Domain Name Hijacking.

Now, Dent is asking the court to award him attorneys’ fees of $243,991.50 (pdf).

The lawsuit states:

Sizable, multimillion dollar corporations ought to not be able to force individuals or smaller businesses to choose between losing hundreds of thousands of dollars (even if they win) to keep their property, or surrendering, simply since the sizable corporation has deep pockets and a sizable litigation budget. Potential UDRP plaintiffs need to know that if they force legitimate domain owners such as David to take them to court to protect their property from seizure based on shoddy or non-existent cybersquatting claims, they have some exposure in terms of attorneys’ fees. Absent this, the bully will always win (right or wrong), since the little guy will have no choice but to surrender.

Dent is represented by Jeffrey Johnson of Schmeiser, Olsen & Watts, LLP, and John Berryhill.