Gets reverse domain name hijacking win — Zak Muscovitch
Complainant filed UDRP following failing to acquire domain name during rebrand.
Domain name and trademark attorney Zak Muscovitch has successfully defended the domain name UnMail.com in a UDRP, getting a finding of reverse domain name hijacking for his client.
Intellect Design Arena Limited, which recently renamed its Slack-like corporate social network product from Octopus to UnMail, filed the case against David Wieland of iEstates.com, LLC.
Crucially, the Complainant changed the name of its product and started using it in commerce following iEstates purchased the domain name in 2013. This made it impossible to show that the domain name was registered in bad faith.
The complainant apparently focused its argument on use in bad faith while ignoring the requirement of registration in bad faith.
World Intellectual Property Organization panelist Andrew D. S. Lothian determined that Intellect Design Arena Limited engaged in reverse domain name hijacking for multiple reasons. Lothian stated this appears to be a case of “Plan B” RDNH, in which the Complainant tried to acquire the domain name and then filed the UDRP following it was unsuccessful.
