The UDRP Blog™

In FastTrak v. Tech Admin, Virtual Point , WIPO Case No. D2017-0652 (Evan D. Brown, May 16, 2017), the Panel denied a Complaint seeking the transfer of fasttrak.com. This was a particularly interesting case that involved a simultaneous federal court proceeding and a request for suspension of the UDRP proceeding that was denied. In the UDRP case, Complainant owned a federal trademark registration for FASTTRAK (plus design), which it had used since 2011. The disputed domain was alleged by Complainant to be registered by Respondent in 2015. Sounds good for the Complainant, but then entered Respondent. Rather the file a formal response, Respondent simply submitted to the Panel a copy of the Reverse Domain Name Hijacking complaint it had filed against Complainant in federal court, and requested suspension of the UDRP proceeding. The Panel first determined not to suspend the UDRP case before it. According to WIPO's rules governing UDRP disputes, "in the event of any legal pro...

In Family Watchdog LLC v. Lester Schweiss , WIPO Case No. D2008-0183 (William R. Towns, April 23, 2008), the Panel refused to transfer familywatchdog .com, familywatchdog .net, and familywatchdog .org to the owner of a U.S. Trademark Registration for the mark FAMILY WATCHDOG. In so doing, the Panel made clear the limitations of seeking redress under the UDRP . The Panel spent considerable effort recounting the facts and allegations between the parties, which involved multiple cease-and-desist letters, offers to sell the disputed domains, filing of trademark infringement complaints with the concerned registrars, and a pending petition before the TTAB to cancel the Complainant's federal trademark registration. Faced with conflicting factual claims and an assortment of legal claims, the Panel took the high road: "On the basis of the statements and documents submitted by the Parties, the Panel has concluded that this case involves disputes regarding trademark rights and usage, t...