The UDRP Blog™

In “Dr. Martens” International Trading GmbH and “Dr. Maertens” Marketing GmbH v. Godaddy.com, Inc. , WIPO Case No. D2017-0246 (David Taylor, April 10, 2017), the Panel ordered the transfer of docmartens.xyz to the owner of the famous DOC MARTENS trademark. This case was interesting for two reasons. First, while the Respondent appears to be the registrar GoDaddy,Inc., it is not (more on that later), and second, I find it fascinating that in the balance of cost/benefit ratio, an entity would pursue any domain ending with the .xyz extension, especially where such domain is not being actively used, as was the case here. Have you ever sought out a .xyz domain name? I didn't think so, which begs the question of what harm Complainant was suffering to justify the effort and expense to pursue this infringement. Sales of footwear must be good, or its lawyers must be bored, for Complainant to prioritize going after this domain. Turning to the merits and the three elements to prove in o...

In Greenvelope, LLC v. Virtual Services Corp. , Wipo Case No. D2017-0006 (Christopher Gibson, February 25, 2017), the Panel denied Greenvelope’s Complaint requesting transfer of greenenvelope.com, despite Greenvelope’s ownership of the federally registered trademark GREENVELOPE and the fact that the Respondent entered no response to the Complaint. As a reminder, to prevail in a UDRP dispute, a complainant must demonstrate three elements: The domain name registered by the respondent is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights; The respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and The respondent has registered and is using the domain name in bad faith. Examining each of these factors in turn, the Panel first concluded that Complainant’s trademark, GREENVELOPE is confusingly similar to the domain greenenvelope.com, as Complainant’s mark “evokes the terms ‘green’ and ‘envelope,’” despite ...

A map of Middle Earth from the famed The Lord of the Rings series In The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkein Enterprises v. Eurobox Ltd. / “The Saul Zaentz Company” , WIPO Case No. D2008-0156 (James A. Barker, May 20, 2008), the Panel required the transfer of middleearthonline.com to the Complainant owner of several registrations for the mark MIDDLE EARTH. Unlike J.R.R. Tolkein's epic The Lord of the Rings series, with which the MIDDLE EARTH mark is associated, the Panel's opinion here was thankfully short and to the point. First, in concluding that the disputed domain was confusingly similar to the Complainant's trademark, the Panel highlighted the fact that the addition of "online" to another's trademark does not obviate confusing similarity: "The disputed domain name is not identical to [the MIDDLE EARTH] mark. But it is clearly confusingly similar. The only difference between them is the addition of the generic term ‘online’. It is well-established that...