Author: Andrew Allemann Comments: Leave a Comment October 10, 2024

The company initiated a cybersquatting dispute after their attempt to purchase the domain fell through due to the desired price.

A panel at the World Intellectual Property Organization determined that UpTerra Corporation attempted to reverse hijack the domain name upterra.com.

The initial approach involved the company trying to acquire the domain, but they were dissatisfied with the owner’s asking price of $18,500. Subsequently, they proceeded to file the UDRP.

This case was doomed from the start: the Respondent owned the domain long before the Complainant established any trademark rights to the term UpTerra.

Upon realizing this fact, the Respondent’s attorney, Muscovitch Law P.C., highlighted the issue in their response. In light of this information, UpTerra requested to withdraw the case, admitting they were unaware of the Respondent’s longstanding ownership of the domain name and believed it had changed hands more recently.

However, the Respondent refused to allow the withdrawal, pointing out that they had already sent a letter to the Complainant after the case was filed but before the response was made. This letter laid out the reasons why the case was destined to fail.

UpTerra did not reply to the letter, claiming that its attorney was unwell when the correspondence arrived.

Despite the response submitted, the domain owner chose not to have the case dismissed and instead sought a ruling of reverse domain name hijacking.

The three-member panel concurred, asserting that the arguments presented by the Complainant regarding a potential change in ownership were unconvincing. They pointed out that UpTerra utilized the filing to gain an advantage after their attempts to acquire the domain name through negotiation fell short. This scenario is also referred to as a Plan B reverse domain name hijacking.

UpTerra was represented by Fish IP Law LLP.

Categories: Policy & Law Tags: reverse domain name hijacking, wipo, world intellectual property organization

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