Ads lead to a UDRP loss — Parking page

What ads show up on a parked page make a big difference.

Anyone can own the domain name MyEnterprise.com. Enterprise is a dictionary word, often referring to businesses and sizable organizations.

But the owner of MyEnterprise.com just lost the domain name in a UDRP brought by Enterprise Rent-A-Car.com, and for good reason. It’s worth digging into this a bit to clear two common misconceptions:

1. You can blame PPC algorithms for the keywords displayed on your parked page.

2. You shouldn’t park a domain name since it makes it easier for someone to win a UDRP.

In the case of MyEnterprise.com, the page showed a lot of keywords clearly related to the car rental firm. This is a big reason the domain name owner lost; It appeared he registered the domain in bad faith to traffic on Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s reputation.

The owner of the domain name tried to blame the PPC algorithm for picking terms related to car rental. Most panelists frown upon this argument, especially if the majority of links are related to the trademark holder. In general, you’re responsible for your parking firm’s actions.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t park domain names, still. Parking domain names and showing ads related to the dictionary meaning of a term can be helpful in proving rights or legitimate interests in the domain name.

Had MyEnterprise.com shown a bunch of ads for enterprise software or business management software, many panelists would have considered this a bona fide use of the domain name for advertising services.