Domain investor, Mike Mann, just lost the UDRP for the domain ArneJacobsen.com at the WIPO.
The Complainant is Arne Jacobsen Design I/S of Virum, Denmark, represented by Horten Advokatpartnerselskab, Denmark.
According to the UDRP filing, the Complainant has rights to the ARNE JACOBSEN mark, and its iconic founder passed in 1971.
“Mr. Jacobsen was a Danish proponent of the style associated with Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius. Amongst the buildings which Mr. Jacobsen designed are the National Bank of Denmark, the Royal Danish Embassy in London and St Catherine’s College in Oxford in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Mr. Jacobsen also designed a number of striking furniture items, including the Series 7 chair, the Drop chair, the Ant chair and the Egg chair. A cutlery set Mr. Jacobsen designed for Georg Jensen featured in the Stanley Kubrick film, “2001: A Space Odyssey”. In his lifetime, Mr. Jacobsen was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the American Institute of Architects.”
Mike Mann acquired the domain ArneJacobsen.com in 2011 at a SnapNames auction; the domain was owned by a Danish registrant as early as in 2003.
According to the UDRP, Domain Market, Mike Mann’s domain portfolio sales venue, had listed ArneJacobsen.com with a sales price of $24,888 dollars.
The sole panelist, Warwick A. Rothnie, stated:
“Buying and selling domain names can itself be a legitimate activity under the Policy. Whether the Respondent’s conduct in this case qualifies as legitimate activity turns on the question of bad faith under the third limb of the Policy.
Before turning to that issue, the Panel notes that the Complainant’s registered trademark were not applied for, or registered, until after the Respondent had registered the disputed domain name. However, Mr. Jacobsen was active in the fields of architecture and design from the 1920s. While a search of any trademark registers would not have disclosed the existence of any registered trademarks in the Complainant’s name, even the most rudimentary Internet search would have disclosed Mr. Jacobsen and his legacy.”
With this in mind, ArneJacobsen.com was ordered to be transferred to the Complainant, per the particulars of this UDRP decision.
Jacobsen, no, never. A Scandinavian classic.