legal Areas.com lost in udrp

Hope the owner takes it to court to get the domain back.

These UDRP panelists need to know not responding does not equal bad faith.

No reply often means losing by default. But not always. The panelist could have determined the respondent did nothing wrong.
And it's not like the respondent was unreachable or unaware:

The Respondent sent an email to the Center on September 2, 2015 stating that he does not want to lose the disputed domain name and asking for an explanation of the proceeding in Spanish. The Center sent to the Respondent a courtesy translation into Spanish of the notification of the Complaint on September 3, 2015. The Center received a phone call from the Respondent in which he indicated that he was aware of the case. The Center did not receive any Response from the Respondent answering the Complainant's contentions on September 21, 2015.

The Center appointed Alejandro Touriño as the sole panelist in this matter on October 16, 2015. The Panel finds that it was properly constituted. The Panel has submitted the Statement of Acceptance and Declaration of Impartiality and Independence, as required by the Center to ensure compliance with the Rules, paragraph 7.

The Panel issued administrative panel procedural order no. 1 granting the Respondent until November 7, 2015 to submit any response to the Complaint. The Center did not receive any communication from the Respondent on November 7, 2015.

Click to expand...

Stupid loss. Maybe he lacked the skills to file a response in English or did not want to pay for qualified counsel. The domain was worth fighting for, but nobody gonna fight for you for free. Some panelists are going the extra mile but not all of them.

Did the owner even know it is an English word ? lol

Ridiculous.

Udrp is unfair.

The Complainant is responsible for paying the total fees. The only time the Respondent has to share in the fees is when the Respondent chooses to have the case decided by 3 Panelists and the Complainant had chosen a single Panelist.

I. Fees

What are the WIPO Center's fees for a domain name dispute?

For a case involving between 1 and 5 domain names, the fee for a case that is to be decided by a single Panelist is USD1500 and USD4000 for a case that is to be decided by 3 Panelists.

For a case involving between 6 and 10 domain names, the fee for a case that is to be decided by a single Panelist is USD2000 and USD5000 for a case that is to be decided by 3 Panelists.

In exceptional circumstances, either the Panel or the WIPO Center may ask the parties to make additional payments to defray the costs of the administrative procedure.

Ironic how the UDRP in itself is a bad-faith operation, with clear intent to profit from other people's marks.

These decisions are absurd, funny enough i received a notice of a TM infringement this week from cscglobal.com requesting me to transfer one of my domains currently in redemption or face legal action lol some of these huge companies just try their luck. I am tempted to renew the domain and list it for 10 million dollars just to P** them off excerpt from their letter below. never used the domain name it always remained parked at godaddy . well common phrase for insurance. I have omitted company details for
their privacy . what a joke

Dear domain owner,

Re: Unauthorized Use and Registration of <domain name> (the "Domain Name")

The company brand

The company brand is owned by company Ltd (“keyword”), a subsidiary of company plc – part of the global company group of companies. As you will be aware, company has a high profile reputation and has built up a huge amount of goodwill in the name COMPANY in conjunction with keyword insurance. Company was founded in xxxx and has since established itself as the leading provider of keyword insurance services under or by reference to the COMPANY trade mark.

In light of the diversity of Company’s interests, the supply of services under the COMPANY mark via the Domain Name is likely to confuse the public and make them believe that your business is in some way connected with or endorsed by Company. Such confusion may be damaging to Company’s business.

Bad faith registration under the UDRP

The Domain Name is identical or confusingly similar to Company’s trademarks and we are not aware of any rights or legitimate interests you may have in respect of the Domain Name.

The Domain Name suggests a false origin in respect of any goods or services which you may offer from the site, or an endorsement of the same by Company or its licensees.

The Domain Name has therefore been registered and is being used in bad faith in accordance with paragraph 4 of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy ("UDRP"), adopted by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN").

Paragraph 4(b)(iv) defines a bad faith registration thus:


"by using the domain name, you have intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to your web site or other on-line location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant's mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of your web site or location or of a product or service on your web site or location.”

Next steps

We ask that you cease trading under the COMPANY name (or anything similar to it) both now and in the future; and transfer the Domain Name to Company.
You may avoid further action by immediately cooperating with *** Corporate Domains, the corporate domain name management representative of Company, to transfer the Domain Name.

Reply to this email to contact CSC Corporate Domains at *******@cscglobal.com to make transfer arrangements. Your response is expected within 10 (ten) days of receipt of this letter.


yer right

What's the value of the domain $xx,xxx or more.

Well, it does look like Areas.com ultimately landed in the hands of the right trademark owner/end user, if you view the word as a non-English, non-generic word. This UDRP might have very well been a case of cybersquatting. The Respondent might have known this and knew he would lose so he ultimately didn't even try to fight for it.