Bar of California loses cybersquatting dispute — Doh! State
Organization that oversees California lawyers let domain expire and loses cybersquatting challenge to get the domain back.
The State Bar of California–the group responsible for admitting attorneys to practice in California–has shown its member how not to argue a cybersquatting dispute.
The organization let one of its domain names, Calsb.org, expire last year. It first registered the domain name in 1996.
It filed a cybersquatting complaint under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) with National Arbitration Forum in an effort to get the domain back. In the dispute, it failed to persuade panelist Debrett G. Lyons that the Calsb.org domain name is confusingly similar to a mark in which the Bar has rights.
The State Bar of California has a registered trademark for “The State Bar of California” and claims that it has unregistered trademark rights in “California State Bart” and “Calsb”. Lyons determined that the domain name is not confusingly similar to the first two and calsb could stand for many things.
Regarding unregistered rights to Calsb, Lyons was unconvinced by the evidence the Complainant submitted.
The Bar previously won a UDRP in 2001 for CAStateBar.com and in 2005 for CaliforniaStateBar.com. Its official website is calbar.ca.gov.
Calsb.org was purchased in a GoDaddy expired domain name auction last year for $676. This morning the domain name forwarded to a zero click parking page for a scam security warning.
