IWC: Luxury watches on Google.
In a tragic chain of events, a domain that was sold on Sedo for $1,400 has been lost via the UDRP process, at the WIPO.
The buyer and Respondent in this case, D. Mischler, was advised by Sedo to complete the process and assume control of the domain IWC.net, after it was sold.
Unfortunately, for months after the March 26, 2015 sale, IWC.net remained at the Sedo transfer escrow, according to WHOIS data from DomainTools.
In the meantime, IWC.net displayed PPC ads related to IWC watches.
This might have led the Complainant, Richemont International S.A. of Geneva, Switzerland, to file a UDRP.
IWC Watches are world famous, and ultimately, the domain was lost, despite being registered in 1996.
You can read the details about the UDRP for IWC.net here.
IWC.net content as parked at Sedo.
Caveat Emptor!
I have stopped buying from the dropcatchers: Sedo, Namejet, and Pool.
No ethics whatsoever when offering TM domains for sale; they hide behind safe harbor rules.
Yes, we all need to be vigilant when buying domains, but, geez, I think the dropcatchers should share some of the responsibility.
Sedo was especially egregious when they parked the name during the very long escrow period and set up an infringing link farm. What a bunch of f*ckin’ a$$es!!! This domain might have been saved had Sedo been more empathetic toward its customer.
Go Daddy at least doesn’t offer TM’s on its expired list (I still check, though) , but GD does NOT check private seller listings very much.
Hi Jennifer – the case with iwc.net is complex but the infringing ads appeared already when the seller sold the domain. See this screenshot from 2013. https://research.domaintools.com/research/screenshot-history/iwc.net/#2
Sedo made it clear in the UDRP that the buyer never completed the transaction/transfer: “Mr. Mischler had failed to update the registration information for the disputed domain name and to remove references to Sedo.”