A recent decision by a panelist at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has judged Propel Pro guilty of reverse domain name hijacking. Propel Pro, which is developing an app aimed at connecting athletes with coaches and former athletes for training purposes, sought to claim the domain name PropelPro.com, despite its preference for the plural form PropelPros.com for its website.
The challenge stemmed from the company’s inability to substantiate trademark rights in the singular term "Propel Pro." Although Propel Pro had submitted a few intent-to-use trademark applications, both are currently encountering non-final office actions from the USPTO rejecting the registrations. Notably, the company was established in July 2024 and had yet to launch its app at the time of the dispute, relying instead on a claim of common law rights based on purported multi-year use and marketing strategies.
It was revealed that the disputed domain name had been registered back in 2014. Even if Propel Pro had demonstrated trademark rights, it still needed to show that the domain had changed ownership after the rights were claimed. Propel Pro provided a Whois history report in its filings but failed to effectively argue the timeline of ownership changes.
The panelist, W. Scott Blackmer, criticized the complaint as "inexplicably sloppy," highlighting how it consisted of vague assertions about trademark claims and overlooked crucial facts about the timeline of the domain’s registration. According to historical Whois records, the ownership of the domain may have shifted between May and September 2024, which the current registrant did not contest.
In the ruling, Blackmer articulated that the filing was made in bad faith and characterized it as an attempt at reverse domain name hijacking. He expressed disapproval regarding the lack of diligence demonstrated in the complaint, which was prepared by a noted intellectual property law firm. The case underlined the critical importance of comprehensive documentation and factual support in UDRP filings.
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