A recent decision by a UDRP panel has ruled that MOVI, LLC, a hat company, attempted to reverse hijack the domain name movi.com. This dispute arose after the company, which launched on Kickstarter in 2019 and operates a website selling hats, expressed discontent over the current owner’s asking price of $350,000 for the domain name.
The domain movi.com has a registration date of 1995 and is currently directed to a parked page filled with advertisements related to movies. The panel determined that the current owner obtained the domain as part of a larger portfolio well before MOVI, LLC came into existence. Therefore, it was impossible for the owner to have targeted the non-existent company when registering the domain.
In concluding the case of reverse domain name hijacking, the panel noted that the original registration of movi.com occurred in 1995. The domain changed ownership through a series of transactions, ultimately acquired by the current owner in 2018— a full year prior to MOVI, LLC’s first commercial use of their brand. The panel asserted that it was apparent that the respondent could not have considered MOVI, LLC and its non-existent trademark when originally registering the domain. Thus, the complaint was ruled to be filed in bad faith.
Lyndon Cook, Jr. represented MOVI, LLC, while the domain owner was represented by Jason Schaffer from ESQwire.com, P.C.
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