RDNH finding for OneChampionship.com
The domain OneChampionship.com was challenged at the WIPO, and the Complainant got slapped with a Reverse Domain Name Hijacking finding.
Registered in 2006, the domain was among 161 domains that the Respondent “came up with,” hand-registering them after he found no active marks.
The Complainant is a Singapore company that owns and manages the “ONE Championship” mixed-martial arts (“MMA”) events. The company was incorporated in July 2011, when it started using the ONE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP trademark in connection with MMA events.
The WIPO panel found the following to be true:
It is not in dispute that the Complainant’s trademark post-dates the registration of the disputed domain name in 2006. Likewise, the Complainant’s unregistered rights; the Complainant only started using the ONE CHAMPIONSHIP mark in 2015 and the ONE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP trademark in 2011, which was when the Complainant was incorporated.
This Panel also agrees and considers that the lack of registration in bad faith is fatal to this case.
As to the Complainant’s claim that Respondent has a pattern of registering domain names in bad faith, in addition to such claim being largely irrelevant in view of the timing issue, the Panel points out that the Complainant has not identified a single one of the 234 other domain names registered by the Respondent which illicitly reproduces or infringes obvious third-party trademarks.
Lastly, the panel slapped the Complainant with a finding of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking:
“The Respondent argues that the Complainant brought this case for commercial purposes without any legal right to the disputed domain name after failing in the marketplace to acquire the disputed domain name.
For the foregoing reasons, the Complaint is denied and the Panel finds that the Complainant has been guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking.”
For the full text of this UDRP decision for OneChampionship.com, click here.
