Integrity.com cybersquatting dispute is reverse domain name hijacking: No integrity

Panel admonishes insurance technology firm for its attempt to get integrity.com through a UDRP.

Insurance technology firm Integrity Marketing Group, LLC has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking. The firm tried to obtain the valuable domain name integrity.com through a UDRP filing following repeatedly failing to acquire the domain name.

The domain name is right now used by LRN Corporation, which provides an ethics and compliance management platform. It forwards integrity.com to its website lrn.com.

Integrity Marketing Group registered a trademark for ‘integrity’ in February of this year, and claimed it had been using the mark in commerce since at least 2016. Still, it didn’t provide adequate proof of common law rights predating the registration.

The firm stated it tried to entered into “good faith negotiations” for the domain name six times since 2001.

It’s unclear when the current owner purchased the domain, which was registered in 1996. It’s possible that it purchased the domain in 2020. This was still ahead of the Complainant’s proven trademark rights.

And even if the LRN purchased the domain yesterday, it would be nearly impossible for the Complainant to win a case for a popular dictionary term that is used by many firms and has many possible uses.

The three person National Arbitration Forum panel determined that this case was brought in bad faith as an abuse of UDRP.

King & Spalding LLP represented Integrity Marketing Group and the Law Office of Jason Zedeck represented the domain name owner.