LH.com Lost !

[Pred]

Reverse hijacking is on the increase guys.
LH.com has just been lost by elequa.

Feel bad for him as this is a terrible decision by wipo imho and it raises questions about their integrity and conduct imo

More Here

 

[RJ]

What's interesting is that, if you check on WIPO, there are actually quite a few companies who have trademarked "LH" worldwide, including the Swiss luxury jeweler Leon Hatot (part of the huge Swatch Group).

How can Lufthansa call this cybersquatting when other companies have trademarked this very same abbreviation too ?

The panel found that FMA did not have any legitimate rights in the mark. If Leon Hatot owned it, the complaint would not have succeeded.

The lawsuit is already pending. This will be a very interesting case to follow.

 

[RJ]

The best defense may be to not hold valuable domains unless you have a trademark and are using them.

Definitely... don't park them, and never offer to sell them.

 

[Mark]

wiposucks.com Taken

wiposucks.net available

wiposucks.org available

wiposucks.info available

wiposucks.me available

 

[gazzip]

Will provide some good reading I'm sure. Thanks. :]

Well I found one of them but when I just checked the whois it looks like he still owns it, he must have fought the case and won :]

My mistake Izy, it was the NATIONAL ARBITRATION FORUM and not WIPO (I'm not sure what the difference is TBH)

"The Panel finds that Respondent has registered the <colchester.com> domain name in bad faith because Respondent has made no use of the domain name since it registered the domain name in 1999"

DECISION
Having established all three elements required under the ICANN Policy, the Panel concludes that relief should be GRANTED.

Accordingly, it is ordered that the <colchester.com> domain name be TRANSFERRED from Respondent to Complainant

http://www.arb-forum.com/domains/decisions/588409.htm



.

 

[Semtex]

Squatting is such a vague term anyways. Domains should be equal to owning physical property and/or land. If I am Century21 or ReMax and I want to buy up 5,000 acres somewhere for $1000 an acre, and then turn around and build a sub-division on it, in a prime location. And then turn around a year later and build houses on that land, and sell each acre for $30,000 an acre, is this fair. You're damn right it's fair!!

So why shouldn't I or anyone be able to horde (like domi said) 1,000 domains and then use them solely for redirecting traffic. This makes your main developed site get more traffic, and in turn worth more.

Billboards are a superb example for redirection. You are sitting at a red light and look up and see a McDonald's billboard. For some reason you become slightly hungry, and a mile down the road, you turn in to buy some food. Is this billboard a waste. To some people it is. But for the people that are being paid by McDonald's to lease that sign for that month would disagree.

For the record.......... I am a horder of hundreds of names and I'm proud of it. I just wish I jumped on the band wagon 10 years ago. Someday, 10 years from now, new-comers to the domain world will say the same thing.

 

[squid]

So guys, How do we prevent such things from happening ?
Be our own registrar ? and have total control of the domain.

ICANN is always above you as a registrar.

 

[Dave_Z]

I rather keep the domain, and nuked the accreditation.

Err, if the domain name's with your registrar and its accreditation gets nuked,
you won't be able to access the domain name until such time.

 

[bfluid]

ouch. Looks like I have learned something new today.
How about applying a TM for the domain ? is that a good way out of this sort of problems ?

Yes. But you need one before this happens to your domain.

 

[Kate]

Or what about British Airways, are they going to pursue BA.com?

They own it

Or American Airlines, do they have a right to AA.com?

They own it

Does Finnair have a right to AY.com?

They don't own it yet

 

[bfluid]

HA!! I didn't realize that.. wow.. Thanks!

So does this mean that every airline in the world is entitled to there respective 2 character .com ? If that is the case then every 2 character .com will eventually be owned by the airlines.? WTF.

They bought them.

 

[ecigs.net]

I do not understand why all LL.COMs are not trademarked as a brands unto themselves. Surely, it would be easier to put a website online and the trademark the name. It seems a lot more cost effective than fighting in court after somebody tries to hijack the name.

 

[TLDnetworks]

I do not understand why all LL.COMs are not trademarked as a brands unto themselves. Surely, it would be easier to put a website online and the trademark the name. It seems a lot more cost effective than fighting in court after somebody tries to hijack the name.

A Trademark must be tied to a SPECIFIC Good or Service, not just a name....

 

[-REECE-]

WOW... I guess I won't be buying an LL.com afterall

These panelists have WAY too much power imho... 2 letter domains + generics should be off limits. Makes no sense that anyone should be "entitled" to an LL.com that could stand for God knows how many other things...

If these things keep going up in value, I really wonder how long it'll be before we have a bunch of companies attempting to reverse hijack these merely because it's cheaper than legitimately acquiring them... With the cost of filing a complaint, one might as well file a complaint first and inquire about purchasing the domain afterwards if unsuccessful.

A very sad day for domainers... :td:

 

[bricio]

wipo :td:

 

[Pred]

agreed, he turned down offers for 1 million in past
make no mistake he doesn't need money, not the point, but makes clearer that it's not bad faith, just that he's a rich guy and likes collecting domains. his call imo

same way if you own 20 van goghs and keep them in your shed, it's your call, you dont expect the Dutch government to take you to court for abusing their heritage, yet that would be more serious

maybe forgetting parking altogether is best, i am dveeloping more and more as every day goes on

More Here

 

[-REECE-]

It's ridiculous... If someone wants to collect paintings, property, shares of stocks, currency, etc they're free to do it, but if you don't put a $1M domain to good use, you lose it? Seriously wtf?

agreed, he turned down offers for 1 million in past
make no mistake he doesn't need money, not the point, but makes clearer that it's not bad faith, just that he's a rich guy and likes collecting domains. his call imo

same way if you own 20 van goghs and keep them in your shed, it's your call, you dont expect the Dutch government to take you to court for abusing their heritage, yet that would be more serious

maybe forgetting parking altogether is best, i am dveeloping more and more as every day goes on

More Here

 

[Pred]

Agreed Reece

Also, he would have paid a lot of money to acquire, they're using this against him, they say one thing against him is he wasn't the original registrant?!! wtf

seriously we should mass complain about these freaks who made the decision, friggin shylocks and fraudsters.

whats more German firms are notorious for underhand tactics

 

[bricio]

maybe forgetting parking altogether is best, i am dveeloping more and more as every day goes on

:bingo:

companies know wipo is the cheapest way to have a name can cost thousands or even millions and some have been successful there

i am worried because this shows maybe one day (and i think it isnt so far) who have the money will always win

 

[-REECE-]

That's what I fear too Bricio. It's a sad day when one has to worry that what they own can be taken away from them at anytime for some made-up-BS reason.

What's next? Is someone gonna wipo CNET for not putting com.com to good use?

:bingo:

companies know wipo is the cheapest way to have a name can cost thousands or even millions and some have been successful there

i am worried because this shows maybe one day (and i think it isnt so far) who have the money will always win

 

[michaeldotcom]

That's precisely what worries me when it comes to very short domains, especially 2 or 3 letter ones.

I remember that we discussed recently on NP the purchase of NTV.tv on Sedo. I pointed out that it might be risky as there are many huge tv channels which are called NTV (in Russia, in the US, in Germany, in Japan, in India, etc).

Almost all very short domains are abbreviations of company names, many of which are trademarked.

The fact that these very short domains are abbreviations of company names is precisely what gives them a very high value, especially when it's a .com.

I would definitely advise anybody who owns a LL.com or LLL.com to develop it and not park it. Parking those very valuable names is the best way to lose them in a trademark dispute, especially as I'm pretty sure that these disputes on very short domains will be seen more and more often in the future.

 

[Kate]

I could see a lawsuit looming over this.

 

[Pred]

I could see a lawsuit looming over this.

me too, and he actually has the dosh to take on Lufthansa too.
love to see them get their arse kicked, also for the panellists to get a boot up the arse as well

 

[StoneRoses]

This is an absoloute disgrace imo.

 

[michaeldotcom]

me too, and he actually has the dosh to take on Lufthansa too. love to see them get their arse kicked, also for the panellists to get a boot up the arse as well

Well, British Airways own ba.com, American Airlines own aa.com, so Lufthansa were jealous and wanted their LL.com too.

Well it's quite obvious that this should lead to a lawsuit. There's just too much at stake. It should be quite interesting to follow...