WIPO and ICANN involvement

[yoshitattoo]

I have a business with the name being sold thru a vendor. I was trademarked in canada and when the domain name I needed was not available I started to search for it. the vendor is failing to abide by a WIPO ruling against them and ICANN has ordered them to allow the purchase at a name registration standard rate to cover their cost for keeping the name as long as they have. They however, are not budging for the price they originally set. Has this been an issue with other vendors like yourselves? I was not trying to lowball the rate and the domain camping/selling price fell into the absurd and by WIPO's standards was in violation of global intellectual property rights laws. that is why they received this ruling. I want to pay them for their "Camping" but they're still trying to acquire 1000 times the value set in the WIPO ruling and by the officials at ICANN. Is this normal behavior or is it an exceptional situation?

 

[Kate]

You need to provide more details.
You're saying there has been a WIPO ruling against them. Usually the name is transfered to the complainant, sometimes it is ordered that it be dropped (rare). So are you saying the ruling has not been enforced yet and who initiated that WIPO ?

 

[yoshitattoo]

My first contact was with the domain holder. after nearly a year of arguing with them I checked into my rights on my trademark as it would effect a domain sale. ICANN's site gave me the links to inform me that the purchase solely with intent to resell was illegal by US and Canada Intellectual Property Rights laws. I again confronted the domain holder with this new information. there was no response for weeks. I called them directly for them to say the person I had been dealing with is no longer an employee. yadda yadda. I gave the new person all the information and they also ignored it and would not answer emails or calls regarding it. I went back to ICANN and found links to WIPO's site for mediation, I now have waited 2.5 years for this domain, offered the owner a reasonable rate for the purchase, paid $250 for mediation, and then after I get a favorable ruling and being a nice guy I still offered to pay them for their "Camping" they will not budge on their inflated price. The name of the site is the exact name of my business, copyright and trademark and they're only using the site as an advertisement that it is for sale. which is the exact definition of the violating offense.

 

[Kate]

So you're saying you won a WIPO against the domain holder. But I'm surprised you paid only $250. Normally it's $1500+.

Unless the losing party resorts to a court action, the registrar has to enforce the ruling within 15 days or something. If it does not comply this can be grounds for terminating their registrar privileges. So now the ball is in their court (and icann's).

But I still don't understand why you're paying if you have a ruling granting you the domain.

 

[nielsencl]

Part of the problem is that you are being nice. If you had contact me about a trademarked domain, you would not have any problems. What you are running into is very common and you need to clearly understand the process and how these things work.

The current domain owner shouldn't be paid anything at this point, in my opinion. Paying them something for their trouble if they didn't understand about the infringement was one thing, but now they need to be dealt with harshly to get the message what they are doing is wrong.

If you have a ruling, then I think the registrar needs to comply with it no matter what the current owner does. But you really need to get some advice from people that have experience in this area.

 

[yoshitattoo]

The 250 was for the filing and a single panel. larger panels are more I know. the problem is they are their own registrar under a side company, like how go-daddy snatches back domains they registered then sells back to the client at an inflated rate thru a different division with a different business name that just so happens to be in the same office building and has the same PO Box for their legal department. kinda like that. As of this moment I'm dealing with 3 seperate companies that are all refusing to communicate but are probably sitting in desks next to each other. you get the idea. the problem prior to the filing was exactly the same. I had no way of knowing who really owned the domain aside from this company and though they're the listed party on the who-is site they're pretending it's not they're problem. "go see the other guy", But you have given me great info. thanks for the info. I'll go back to ICANN over it from now on.

 

[copper]

Just $250?
I thought filing fee is $1,500?

 

[DubDubDubDot]

I presume the domain in question is owned by RareNames (BuyDomains.com) and they want $3,588 for it, correct?

They have been taken to WIPO before, which isn't surprising given the number of domains they own. What I haven't heard before is them refusing to comply with a WIPO ruling.

 

[lothos]

Just $250?
I thought filing fee is $1,500?

$1,300 is the cheapest I know of.

yoshitattoo: where did you get this ruling from?