Lego Buddies: KickStarter project owner loses LEGO UDRP

A KickStarter project owner has just lost a UDRP over the domain LegoBuddies.com, after the toy maker took them to the WIPO over the use of the domain.

Blessed Factory of Deland, Florida, used the domain to forward to the company’s KickStarter project, titled “Blessed Buddies“.

According to the project, “Blessed Buddies is a cartoon ministry that spreads faith, hope, and love to kids. This project is for launching the first book!”

The use of trademarks in domains is a practice that can lead to a UDRP by the trademark holders, depending on use.

After LEGO sent a Cease and Desist notice to the Respondent, the latter requested from the Complainant to submit an offer highlighting that he received many interesting offers from certain Chinese companies.

Oops! That’s where they definitely fucked up.

According to the single member panelist, the rest was easy to decide on, and the domain LegoBuddies.com was ordered to be transferred to the Complainant:

“The exchange of correspondence with the Complainant clearly shows in the Panel’s view the Respondent’s intention to have the disputed domain name registered primarily for the purpose of selling it to the right owner for valuable consideration exceeding out-of-pocket expenses. The fact that the Respondent did not approach the Complainant first does not change this evaluation, since the Respondent did not specify his own alleged business intentions, but offered to sell the disputed domain name for apparently more than out-of-pocket expenses by threatening to sell it to Chinese companies and implying through its statement “You might want to study up on Chinese law and their court system” to factually block the transfer of the disputed domain name.”

For the full text of this UDRP decision, click here.

 

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