UDRP has been denied.
Fusion3.com, a domain name registered in 1999, was challenged at the WIPO – almost 20 years later.
Fusion3 Design, LLC of Greensboro, North Carolina, filed a UDRP dispute, basing their claims on a trademark registered in 2013.
The Korean registrant and Respondent in this case, was self-represented, and pointed out the date of registration:
The Respondent registered the disputed domain name on May 15, 1999 well before November 26, 2014 when the Complainant filed its applications to register the FUSION3 trademark (See a copy of WhoIs record at the Respondent’s Annex 1 and a copy of Certificate of Domain Name Registration at the Respondent’s Annex 4). The Respondent did not register the disputed domain name in bad faith.
The Korean panelist dug down into the WHOIS records and found that Fusion3.com was acquired by the Respondent in 2016. In such cases where the trademark predates a change in ownership, the Complainant has a strong chance of winning the domain.
In this case, the Respondent won the case, barely so, and the panelist even pointed out that they maintain an “important portfolio of domains” and there have been past UDRP cases involving them.
At the end, the panelist ordered the domain to remain with the Respondent. Full details on this UDRP case follow:
