Seagate actively protects its 30 year old brand.
Seagate is a name and brand established for over thirty years, creating digital storage media.
As such, they are expected to take their brand very seriously, when others attempt to dilute it.
In the world of domain names, that means registering a secondary TLD. As Seagate owns the .com, the registrant of Seagate.org was hit with a UDRP at the National Arbitration Forum.
Seeing how it’s hopeless to argue with the technology giant, the registrant of Seagate.org responded as follows:
“Respondent registered the disputed domain name in good faith because its business does not register domain names containing third-party marks; Respondent consents to transfer the disputed domain name to Complainant.”
In other words, the white flag of surrender was waved. 😀 When caught with the hand in the jar, it’s best to deny one’s “bad” intentions. 😉
Naturally, the sole panelist awarded the domain to Seagate corporation, but not before analyzing the decision further:
“When a respondent consents to transferring its domain name, judicial economy dictates that the panel should simply proceed to grant Complainant’s requested relief in recognition that there is no dispute between the parties regarding the at-issue domain name’s ultimate disposition. The Panel’s position here is analogous to the situation where a complainant withdraws its complaint. In that case there obviously is no basis for a panel to issue a decision on the merits. Similarly, a domain name registrant may not file a UDRP complaint requesting declarative relief concerning a trademark holder or trademark holders. “
In other words, the panelist made it clear – perhaps, unnecessarily – that the NAF panel decides only on the transfer or not of a domain in question and does not decide on any further financial relief that the complainant might seek in the case.
Not that anything stops Seagate from seeking further damages from the respondent; that would be easier to achieve given the result of the UDRP. The entire decision on Seagate.org can be read here.
