QIQ.com UDRP, but denies RDNH — Panel denies

QIQ.com to remain with domain name owner following WIPO decision.

A World Intellectual Property Organization panelist has denied a UDRP filed against the domain name QIQ.com. Still, she denied a reverse domain name hijacking claim without giving any sort of reason.

Based on the facts presented to the panel, respondent Netico, Inc registered QIQ.com in 1999, more than a decade ahead of complainant QIQ Communications Pty Ltd had any rights to the QIQ name.

Therefore, panelist Gabriela Kennedy ruled that the domain name was not registered in bad faith.

QIQ Communications made at least one argument in its case that it knew was false:

The Respondent registered and is using the Disputed Domain Name to intentionally attempt to attract for commercial gain, Internet users to its website or other online location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the Complainant’s trademark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation or endorsement of the Respondent’s website or other online location.

This is, of course, impossible given the date of registration compared to the trademark rights. Yet Kennedy wrote:

The Panel cannot conclude that the Complainant filed its Complaint in bad faith for the purposes of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking, and mere lack of success of the Complaint is not in itself sufficient for a finding of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking.

The Panel is of the opinion that the Complainant has not filed its Complaint in bad faith as an attempt at Reverse Domain Name Hijacking.

So apparently you can lie in a UDRP pleading and it’s not reverse domain name hijacking.