Sega Games at Sega.com
Dot .Games has been a big success for gamers, gaming companies, and domain investors alike.
The Rightside gTLD currently has just almost 8,000 .Games domains, per ntldstats.
Today, we were made aware of what appears to be the first UDRP filed for a .Games domain, Sega.Games.
The Complainant is SEGA Games Co., Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan and the Respondent is Amman Sabet of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, according to the UDRP documents.
Sega is not only a trademark, but also the corporate name of the Japanese games software producers. The SEGA mark is famous and well-known around the world.
According to the UDRP, the Respondent exhibits evidence that he has used the disputed domain name for the purposes of a website holding page headed “The Sega Games Site”, which states that an unofficial fan site, relating to old Sega games and game systems, is under construction.
In his response, the Respondent stated the following:
“[…] he registered the disputed domain name only after the relevant “sunrise” period for the “.games” gTLD had expired and the Complainant had failed to register the name. He provides evidence of having obtained the disputed domain name by means of a “GoDaddy Auction” and submits that his acquisition of the disputed domain name by this method gives rise to his rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name.
The Respondent denies having registered the disputed domain name for profit or with any intention of preventing the Complainant from registering that name. He states that anyone visiting his intended website would see that it was not the Complainant and denies having acted in bad faith.”
All this makes no difference, however, as the WIPO panelist flagged down those arguments:
“Whether or not the Complainant failed to register the disputed domain name during the relevant “sunrise” period, the mere registration of the disputed domain name by the Respondent (by whatever method) does not vest him with rights or legitimate interests in respect of the disputed domain name. The issue in this case, therefore, is whether the Respondent’s alleged intended use of the disputed domain name for the purpose of a fan site is sufficient to give rise to such rights or legitimate interests.”
Interestingly, the Respondent went after other famous brands in the games industry, registering the following domains:
bethesda.games
bungie.games
meta.games
naughtydog.games
oculus.games
playstation.games
sega.games
zenimax.games
Steven A. Maier, sole panelist thus ordered the domain Sega.Games to be transferred to the Complainant.
For the full text of this UDRP decision, click here.
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This domain has 3 strikes on it. The first one is “Sega Games” co. in the company name. 2nd the well known brand. 3rd it’s trademark.
With those 3 strikes you know the name was going to be transferred over to sega.