Source: https://randazza.wordpress.com/category/udrp/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 02:13:15+00:00

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In a UDRP Case, you have to do *some* work!
In my experience, the doozie arguments in UDRP cases usually come from Respondents. But, this Complainant takes an honorable mention in the hall of fame of stupid domain name arbitration maneuvers.
In Mathiesen S.A.C. v. Allan Mathiesen, WIPO Case No. D2009-0087, the Complainant had legitimate Chilean trademark registrations for MATHIESEN, and the domain name in question was http://www.mathiesen.com. However, the Chilean registrations were granted in 2005, and the domain name appears to have been held by the same owner, Allan Mathiesen, since 1999.
There are potential exceptions, but it is generally accepted that under paragraph 4(a)(ii) of the UDRP, a party has a right to and/or a legitimate interest in a domain name when it corresponds to his actual legal name. See, e.g., G. A. Modefine S.A. v. A.R. Mani, Case No. D2001-0537 (A gentleman by the name of “A.R. Mani” registered armani.com and prevailed against Giorgio Armani on this basis).
I must wonder how the complainant’s attorney could have drafted the complaint and not at least dealt with the fact that the domain name and the respondent’s surname were the same. I have seen respondents come up with post-hoc “name changes” or claim that their “nickname” corresponds to the domain name. Accordingly, the complainant could have at least challenged the presumption that the WHOIS information was accurate – but they apparently didn’t bother to do so.
The panel found that this was an abuse of the arbitration process, and rightfully so.
A heartening factor in this case is that the panelist, Jeffrey D. Steinhardt, bothered to do some independent research, and reviewed the relevant web page and its online archives to see how the domain name had been used since its registration in 1999. UDRP Panelists certainly have the power to do so, and I believe that they have a responsibility to do so. Douglas Isenberg embraces this principle, but precious few others seem to do so.
The moral of the story: as a complainant’s attorney, you have to do some work. As a Panelist, you really ought to.
A recent UDRP case gave one of the harshest criticisms of domain registration privacy services rendered to date. See Ustream.TV, Inc. v. Vertical Axis, Inc., WIPO Case No. D2008-0598.
The majority of the Panel also finds that the use of a privacy shield in this case further supports its finding of bad faith registration. Although privacy shields might be legitimate in some cases – such as protecting the identity of a critic against reprisal – it is difficult to see why a PPC advertiser needs to protect its identity except to frustrate the purposes of the Policy or make it difficult for a brand owner to protect its trademarks against infringement, dilution and cybersquatting. In circumstances like this, the privacy shield may also allow registrants to transfer domain name registrations amongst themselves without any public record that there has been a transfer, thus allowing them to evade enforcement of legitimate third-party rights or to obstruct proceedings commenced under the Policy (see Sermo, Inc. v. CatalystMD, LLC, WIPO Case No. D2008-0647, which held that use of privacy shield can be “treated as evidence of bad faith . . . when serial registrants use privacy shields to mask each registrant’s actual date of registration”). Such use defies the Policy’s overriding objectives to preserve accountability for unlawful acts on the Internet and to curb the abusive registration of domain names and cybersquatting (see, e.g., Fifth Third Bancorp v. Secure Whois Information Service, WIPO Case No. D2006-0696; HSBC Finance Corporation v. Clear Blue Sky Inc., WIPO Case No. D2007-0062).
It didn’t help that the Respondent in this case seems to have pretty clearly provided perjurious testimony. Unfortunately, that kind of thing is not rare. See If you are going to lie in a UDRP case – at least be smart about it! Hydentra, LP. v. Xedoc Holding SA.
Despite the clear perjury and apparent bad faith, panelist David Sorkin dissented. No big surprise there given the hundreds of thousands of dollars he has made by being selected by respondents as one of their panelists-of-choice.
The Acroplex Blog reports on The shameful WIPO case of Aspis.com.
Aspis is a registered trademark of a Swedish company. However, it is also refers to Aspis Pronoia, a Greek insurance company. Interestingly enough, the Swedish Aspis is the successor in interest to the Greek company. Back in 1998, Aspis Pronoia ticked off Mr. Dimitri Kukurinis, and he registered aspis.com to vent his frustration with the company. The Swedish successor corporation filed a UDRP action. See Aspis Liv Försäkrings AB v. Neon Network, LLC, Case No. D2008-0387.
Mr. Kukurinis [the registrant] is a resident of New York and at all material times has used the Domain Name to host a criticism site. The site contains text in both Greek and English and criticises stock investment advice that Mr. Kukurinis claims to have received from Aspis Pronia and, in particular, one Mr. Kosta Karavasilis of Aspis Pronia.
Nevertheless, two of the three UDRP panelists found that this was not a legitimate use of the domain name and that it was both registered and used in bad faith. More surprisingly, they seemed to suggest that criticism sites were, per se, not legitimate uses of domain names.
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