Files UDRP on Whistles.com — Whistles.co.uk owner
Parked page’s contents probably upset clothing firm.
Whistles Limited, a UK womens’ clothing brand, has filed a UDRP against Whistles.com. The firm’s website is Whistles.co.uk.
A B.S. filing against a generic domain name? Maybe. But this is one of those cases in which the domain’s owner ought to have been more careful with domain name parking. Here’s what’s on the site right now:
This reminded me of some recent debate regarding the dangers of parking domain names.
Bill Sweetman of Name Ninja suggested that you shouldn’t park your domain names if you want to cut down on cybersquatting complaints.
This led to some debate with domain attorney John Berryhill regarding parking domains and what content ought to be on them.
A good example of how domain parking can help you is when you show links related to the nature of the domain name’s keywords. For example, in a UDRP over Digilove.com, the panel ruled that showing links related to dating was a bona fide use of the domain name. Parking the domain with terms related to love helped the domain owner in the dispute.
Which gets us back to whistles.com. Even though the registrant purchased the domain many years following Whistles Limited was founded, a parked page showing whistles for sale would likely be enough to persuade a panel that the registrant had rights or legitimate interests in the domain name, and perhaps that it wasn’t registered in bad faith. Links to clothing, on the other hand, look pretty bad.
