Trademarks don’t always win the matching .com.
IEC.com, an aged, three letter .com domain was saved at the WIPO after International Electrotechnical Commission of Geneva, Switzerland filed a UDRP against it.
Represented by ESQwire.com, the Respondent asked for a three member panel to deliver a decision.
According to the UDRP:
“Amongst other things, the Complainant is the owner of Swiss Trademark Registration No 597476 which is for “IEC & logo” in International Classes 9 and 16. This registration dates from 1992. The Complainant is also the owner of an International Registration derived from the Swiss Trademark Registration which designates numerous countries under both the Madrid Agreement and the Madrid Protocol. The International Registration dates from 1993.”
The Respondent denied any knowledge or awareness of the Complainant or its trademark when registering the disputed domain name.
“They state they are in the business of registering “generic” domain names for their intrinsic value and turning them to account. In that connection, the Respondents point out that two and three letter domain names are scarce properties and highly valuable in their own right as they are simple to remember and type and can be relevant to a wide range of different businesses and uses.
The Respondents identify a significant number of businesses quite unrelated to the Complainant which are named, or have in their name, “IEC” and also some common uses of the acronym.”
The three member panel decided to allow the Respondent keep IEC.com, but did not deliver a finding of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking as they pursued.
For the full text of this UDRP decision, click here.
