Telepathy, Inc.
Telepathy, Inc. beat an aggressor’s UDRP against the generic, aged domain Fakir.com.
The Complainant is Fakir Elektrikli EV Aletleri Diş Ticaret Anonim Şirketi of Istanbul, Turkey who claimed a number of trademarks for “FAKIR” dating back to the 1960s and in various countries.
Telepathy, Inc. sought a very reasonable $18,000 dollars for the domain; a Mr Evli, who appears to work for the Complainant’s parent company, responded on June 6, 2014, stating that he would be prepared to pay between $6,000 to $8,000 for the Domain Name.
Despite further advice by the Respondent, Fakir Elektrikli went ahead and filed a UDRP.
As part of their defense, the Respondent stated the following:
(i) That “fakir” was a common English word of Arabic origins.
(ii) That the Respondent had registered the Domain Name 15 years previously and “well before your company had registered trademarks for the mark ‘fakir'”.
(iii) That the time that had passed since registration meant that the Complainant had a defence of laches.
(iv) That the Complainant had agreed to the statement declaring that the Complainant has no rights in the Domain Name (as identified at paragraph 4.10 of this decision) above and asserting that:
“As has been found repeatedly under the UDRP, bringing a case such as this one, after failed purchase negotiations, without evidence of bad faith registration and use, and under circumstances where you have already been advised that the domain owner has legitimate rights is an impermissible purpose.”
A three member panel decided that the domain should remain with its registrant, Telepathy, Inc., all while denying a finding of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking.
Telepathy, Inc. was represented by Muscovitch Law P.C., Canada.
For the full text of the UDRP against Fakir.com, click here.
