Name hijacking (even with no response) — Reverse domain
Panelist finds Mister Auto SAS filed complaint in abuse of policy despite domain name owner not responding.
A World Intellectual Property Organization panelist has found Mister Auto SAS in France guilty of reverse domain name hijacking for the domain name MisterAuto.com.
The decision by panelist John Swinson comes despite the domain name owner not responding in the case. Yet it was a fairly easy decision; the domain was registered well ahead of the Complainant existed and the Complainant made no argument to address this.
It’s not surprising that Mister Auto wanted MisterAuto.com. It uses the hyphenated domain name Mister-Auto.com to sell auto parts. It sent a cease & desist letter to the domain name owner and never heard back.
Swinson summed up Mister Auto SAS’ action in filing the UDRP:
The Panel considers the Complainant launched the proceedings out of desperation as its prior attempt to contact the Respondent went unanswered (and the webpage did not resolve – revealing no clues as to the Respondent’s possible motives) but without a reasonable chance of success and as such in the circumstances constitutes an abuse of the Administrative Proceeding.
Mister Auto was represented by Cairn Legal in Belgium.
