French, but WTF DJ Snake? — Pardon my

DJ Snake and Pardon My French tried to get PardonMyFrench.com through a domain dispute.

A World Intellectual Property Organization panelist has found against William Samy Etienne Grigahcine, aka DJ Snake, in a dispute over the domain name PardonMyFrench.com.

DJ Snake is part of a collective of French DJs called Pardon My French.

PardonMyFrench.com was registered in 2002. The owner of the domain didn’t respond to the cybersquatting dispute so we don’t know for sure when he obtained the domain name.

Nevertheless, the collective would have needed to show that the registrant of the domain was specifically targeted it with its registration and use of the domain name since it’s a common phrase.

The record doesn’t show any infringement, such as pay-per-click links related to the Complainant. The domain has been used as a personal blog and right now resolves to a blank WordPress installation.

Even without a response, the panelist ought to have considered reverse domain name hijacking in this case.