Yoga apparel firm sues to get ALO.com

The firm tried reverse domain name hijacking the domain in 2017.

Yoga apparel firm Alo, LLC has filed an in rem cybersquatting lawsuit (pdf) in an effort to get the domain name alo.com.

It’s the firm’s second attempt to upgrade its domain name through legal means. In 2017, it filed a cybersquatting dispute under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).

It lost that case, and the panel determined it was filed in bad faith since the domain was registered well ahead of the apparel firm existed.

In its lawsuit filed this stretch, the firm argues that subsequent bad faith use of the domain name warrants its lawsuit:

In this action, Alo does not assert that the Defendant Domain Name was registered to capitalize on Alo’s trademarks when the domain was first created, and Alo was not aware that the Defendant Domain Name was being used to violate Alo’s intellectual property rights until more recently. Still, the circumstances surrounding the current use and registration of the Defendant Domain Name necessitate the present action.

The firm asserts that the domain has been parked with ads related to Alo and its competitors.

It argues that the domain has been “registered” in recent years, although the Whois record strongly suggests that the current registrant is the same one it filed the UDRP against in 2017.

Assuming it’s the same owner, this would seem to be more of a trademark dispute than a cybersquatting case.

David Weslow of Wiley Rein is representing the yoga firm. In the previous UDRP dispute, ESQwire.com represented the domain name owner.