Marchex Defends Frontrunners.com Domain Name
Arbitration panel determines Marchex can keep domain name FrontRunners.com.
If there ever was a frontrunner for “dubious UDRP domain arbitration case”, FrontRunners.com may be it.
Bradley D Mittman MD dba FRONTRUNNERS has a trademark to the term FrontRunners for use in connection with educational conferences and services in the field of medicine, counting tutorial sessions and correspondence courses. But you’ve probably never heard of the firm or any of the other firms laying claim to a similar trademark.
Nonetheless, Mittman filed a UDRP against Marchex (NASDAQ: MCHX) subsidiary MDNH, Inc to try to get the domain name. With domain attorney John Berryhill on the defense, MDNH quashed the attempt. (See case).
Mittman’s claim that Frontrunners.com showed links related to his products was a bit of a stretch. The site apparently had links to Amazon, BizRate, and other major online stores and comparison shopping sites. His products are sold on these sites, so he claimed that MDNH was trying to take advantage of his not-so-famous trademark.
We observe that the Wayback Machine (“www.archive.orgâ€) has cached six versions of the site to which the disputed domain resolved between October 18, 2000 and January 9, 2007. In none of those versions is there any apparent link to a product or services of the Complainant or any product or service competitive with that of the Complainant.
Marchex purchased FrontRunners.com through the buyout of Yun Ye’s UltSearch portfolio.
