Seeks better domain name through WIPO action — True Religion

Firm files complaint for domain name TrueReligion.com

Publicly traded True Religion (NASDAQ: TRLG), maker of premium denim products, has a really long domain name: TrueReligionBrandJeans.com.

Without doubt, a lot of fans of the brand type in TrueReligion.com when trying to find its website.

So the firm has filed a UDRP with World Intellectual Property Organization to try to get the domain name TrueReligion.com.

TrueReligion.com was registered back in 1998. It’s right now owned by a Saudi Arabia man. The oldest historical whois record for the domain dates to 2004, and the domain has had the same owner since then.

So why is the jeans firm just now getting around to going following the domain name in 2013?

The firm has an excuse for not going following the domain name early on. The site was dedicated to Islam. But in 2009 the site changed, becoming a one page web site with ads, then a parked page, and finally a page saying the site was for sale and linking to places where visitors could purchase True Religion jeans:

Although it’s clear the domain is now being used to take advantage of the jeans firm’s fame, it may be challenging to prove that the domain name was originally registered in bad faith. This is especially the case if the current owner was the original registrant in 1998, which was ahead of the jeans firm was founded in 2002.