“Le boeuf” – the French word for “beef” is thus generic.
The matching domain, LeBoeuf.com, was challenged in a UDRP by the LeBoeuf Corporation, who claimed to have common law rights since 2002.
How convenient of a claim, as the domain was registered in 2003.
Le Boeuf – It’s what’s for dinner in France.
A three member panel at the National Arbitration Forum had to dig through these claims, that reeked of fresh manure.
“Respondent denies that Complainant has common law rights in the LEBOEUF mark dating back to 2002 and that Complainant holds any common law rights in the mark whatsoever. Respondent contends that Complainant’s provided Corporation Corporate Profile from the Missouri Secretary of State website is inaccurate and misleading. Respondent has provided evidence of this purported misleading nature in its exhibits, suggesting that Complainant’s company was filed as “Global Solutions International, Inc.” in 2002, rebranded to “Cynergy Consulting, Inc.” in 2009, and rebranded again on September 1, 2015 to “LeBoeuf Corporation.” The Panel finds this evidence sufficient to rebut the claim of rights dating back to 2002, and therefore the Panel finds that Complainant does not hold common law rights in the LEBOEUF mark under Policy ¶ 4(a)(i). “
At some point, the Complainant made an offer of $2,000 to acquire the domain, and the Respondent countered with a beefy $500,000 dollars.
In the end, the seeking of compensation for a generic .com domain that the Complainant lacks any rights to, wasn’t an issue for the three panelists to order that the domain should remain with its owner.
Not only that, they found that the UDRP against LeBoeuf.com was brought in bad faith, constituting a case of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking.
For the full text of the decision, click here.
My butler prefers lamb …
Now I am reading so much about domain name hijacking these days a lo, may be because of domain name worth involved are so big.