Prevails again as UDRP case unravels in courts — TRX.com registrant
Trustee disavows claim, states original UDRP filing was unauthorized.
The registrant of TRX.com has just secured another win toward retaining his domain name, following a surprise UDRP decision in 2022 that had ordered it transferred.
Loo Tze Ming purchased the domain name trx.com for $138,000 in April 2022 on the domain marketplace 4.cn.
In October 2022, Fitness Anywhere LLC, a firm undergoing bankruptcy proceedings that claimed rights to the TRX trademark, filed a cybersquatting claim under the UDRP. The following month, the panelist awarded the Complainant the domain name in a controversial decision.
That set off a series of lawsuits.
The domain registrant sued Fitness Anywhere to stay the UDRP decision. That case itself was stayed since Fitness Anywhere is in bankruptcy.
Then, in February 2023, a firm called JFXD TRX ACQ LLC, which described Fitness Anywhere as its predecessor in interest, filed an in rem lawsuit against trx.com in Virginia, where the .com registry is based.
The court ruled that the owner of TRX.com was not cybersquatting and awarded attorney’s fees as an exceptional case. An appeals court affirmed the decision.
But there was still the lawsuit involving Fitness Anywhere. Recall that the original UDRP was filed in the name of Fitness Anywhere. But was it authorized by the firm?
The trustee in the Fitness Anywhere bankruptcy proceeding has stated that the firm has no interest in the domain and suggests that the UDRP case was filed fraudulently in its name.
As stated by a consent decree (pdf) signed by the judge yesterday:
The Bankruptcy Court entered an Order on August 22, 2022, authorizing Fitness Anywhere to sell its intellectual property, counting rights in marks related to TRX and any associated domain names, to JFXD Capital, LLC (the “Sale Order”).
Based on the Sale Order, Defendant Fitness Anywhere, LLC (“Fitness Anywhere”) does not assert an interest in the Domain Name.
Based on the Sale Order, at the time the UDRP Proceeding was filed, the Trustee believes that Fitness Anywhere did not claim ownership of the domain name TRX.com or assert trademark rights in the TRX trademarks.
The UDRP Proceeding Complaint was filed by Mr. Alain Villeneuve, who to the Trustee’s knowledge, at the time of filing the UDRP Proceeding, was not authorized to file the UDRP Proceeding on behalf of Fitness Anywhere.
In other words, Fitness Anywhere stated that it no longer had any rights in the TRX mark when the UDRP was filed and has no interest in the domain.
Since it had sold the TRX intellectual property to JFXD, only that firm could have pursued the domain. And the other court has by now ruled against JFXD.
