Best shop vac : Bangladeshi domain owner makes a killing, deflects UDRP

The owner of BestShopVac.net successfully deflected a UDRP against the domain; the Bangladeshi registrant makes a killing from affiliate orders on shop vacs.

According to the UDRP filed at the National Arbitration Forum, Complainant is Shop Vac Corporation and the Respondent is Md Oliul Alam.

In the UDRP, the Complainant states the following:

For approximately 60 years, Complainant has manufactured and sold in the United States and around the world high-quality vacuum cleaners and related accessories under the federally registered trademark SHOP-VAC, which is well known and is registered in many countries. Complainant registered the domain name <shopvac.com> on July 31, 1997 and uses the “www.shopvac.com” website to promote its products under the SHOP-VAC mark.

The Respondent assumed that he could own the Domain Name indisputably because people searching for ‘best shop vac / vacuum’ on the Internet are not necessarily looking for Complainant’s product.

Manufacturers, retailers and product review websites use the expression “shop vac / vacuum” to refer to a specific type of product, which may be called “wet/dry vacuum” or something similar.

Examples are: “Craftsman Craftsman Remote Control Wall Mount 5 Peak HP 5 Gal. Wet/Dry Vacuum Shop Vac”; “WORKSHOP Wet Dry Vac WS1600VA High Capacity Wet Dry Vacuum Cleaner, 16-Gallon Shop Vacuum Cleaner, 6.5 Peak HP Wet And Dry Vacuum”; and “WORKSHOP Wet/Dry Vacs WS1600VA High Capacity Wet Dry Shop Vacuum, 16-Gallon, 6.5 Peak HP with Dusting Brush”.

Respondent’s website bestshopvac.net has been generating $500 to $600 in revenue per month from Amazon as an affiliate partner.

That’s quite impressive.

Complainant, in its Additional Submission, exhibits examples of its recent attempts to prevent the use of its mark as a generic description of a type of vacuum cleaner, including correspondence in which it seeks the removal from Wikipedia of the statement:

“Wet or wet/dry vacuum cleaners (commonly known by the generic trademark Shop-Vac)”

In other words, the term is perceived to be generic, and Complainant seeks the removal of “Shop-Vac” from a Wikipedia list of generic trademarks.

The sole panelist’s decision to deny transfer of the domain to the Complainant, was based on the following statement:

“[…] the Panel finds that Respondent registered the Domain Name in order to capture web traffic for the specific search terms “best shop vac” so as to appear highly in search rankings, without any intention of diverting traffic away from Complainant. Hence the Panel finds that Complainant has failed to establish that Respondent has intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to his website by creating a likelihood of confusion with Complainant’s mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of Respondent’s website or of a product or service on his website.”

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

 

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