GLOCK, Inc. is a major weapons manufacturer of popular handguns, and they took aim at a domain investor’s four letter .com domain.
GSSF image search in Google.
In a UDRP that was filed at the National Arbitration Forum against the registrant of GSSF.com, GLOCK claimed that their matching mark was infringed:
Complainant uses the GSSF mark in association with the “Glock Sport Shooting Foundation,” a family-oriented organization which is devoted to responsible use of Glock firearms. Complainant owns a valid United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) trademark in the GSSF mark, registered on March 2, 1999 and bearing the registration number 2,228,018, which demonstrates its rights in the mark. Respondent’s <gssf.com> domain name is confusingly similar to the GSSF mark because it incorporates the mark entirely and merely adds the generic top-level domain (“gTLD”) “.com.”
The Respondent isn’t wet behind the ears, in fact, he referred to himself as a “celebrated domain name reseller,” adding the following:
“Four-Letter domain names are extremely valuable premium domain names. Further, “GSSF” evinces many different connotations and as such is generic. Respondent has registered the <gssf.com> domain name with the intent to trade it as a legitimate activity.
Respondent has not used the disputed domain name in connection with Complainant or its business offerings. Further, Respondent did not register the <gssf.com> domain name with actual notice. Respondent refused Complainant’s offer to sell the domain name, and the parking page associate with the name is a legitimate activity. Respondent is a celebrated domain name reseller. Also, Respondent has a history of winning UDRP cases against corporations such as Complainant.”
Wow, talk about attitude – but in this case, it worked in the Respondent’s favor. 😀
Jaime Delgado, sole panelist, stated that the Respondent’s business as a generic domain-name reseller is legitimate and has not attempted to profit in bad faith.
For the full text of the UDRP against GSSF.com click here.
A complainant should consult a domainer before trying to fight against one. It might save him time. The sad thing is that most of them just want the name for free.