Name hijacking in Unicaf domain dispute — Reverse domain
Domain was registered prior to any trademark rights accruing.
A World Intellectual Property Organization panelist has found (pdf) educational organization Unicaf LTD guilty of reverse domain name hijacking.
The organization filed a UDRP against unicaf.org. It uses the matching .org domain for one of its websites.
Unicaf didn’t claim any rights in its filing that pre-dated the domain owner’s registration of the domain in 2011. Both of the domains the Complainant uses for its websites were registered following unicaf.com was registered.
In light of this, panelist Marina Perraki ruled that the domain was not registered in bad faith and that this was a case of reverse domain name hijacking.
Many panelists will require more evidence of wrongdoing to find reverse domain name hijacking, especially in a case like this where the Complainant is internally represented. Perhaps more findings of reverse domain name hijacking in dead-on-arrival cases will dissuade firms from filing them.
