Business venture and domains often involve disputes and trademarks.
Four letter .com domains have always had a high valuation, when formed with “clean” letters appealing to Westerners.
With the increased interest by the Chinese in the remaining gamut of “lesser” letters, the overall price of four letter .com domains has reached levels unseen before.
It comes as no surprise, that the owner of HECS.com countered with an asking price of $300,000 dollars, when offered 1% of that amount.
Apparently, the counter-offer amount did not sit well with the company Hecs LLC, and they filed a UDRP at the National Arbitration Forum.
One slight problem: the domain owner and Respondent in this case, was acting in good faith when he secured the domain, as both parties were in a business relationship, and were seeking to expand in the US.
The Australian trademark for HECS alone wasn’t enough for the panelist to order the domain’s transfer. In fact, the National Arbitration Forum panelist stated that this was a business dispute:
“A dispute, such as the present one, between parties who each have at least a prima facie case for rights in the disputed domain names is outside the scope of the Policy … the present case appears to hinge mostly on a business or civil dispute between the parties, with possible causes of action for breach of contract or fiduciary duty. Thus, the majority holds that the subject matter is outside the scope of the UDRP and dismisses the Complaint.”
Long story short, the owner of HECS.com can keep it for now, as this dispute will have to be resolved in a different manner.
For the full text of the UDRP involving the domain name HECS.com, click here.
