UDRP loss results from lack of communication with domain registrar

In a recent case under the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), the administrative panel determined that a party who had owned the disputed domain name for more than 20 years was not entitled to recover it from another party who bought the domain name at auction. The complainant alleged that it let the domain name registration lapse because it could not communicate with the domain name registrar, which apparently recently had been acquired by another registrar. After purchasing the domain name at auction, the respondent redirected it to his travel-related website. (The parties disputed whether that redirection continued – in a supplemental filing, the complainant characterized the respondent’s redirecting of the disputed domain name to pay-per-click ads as “thumbing his nose” at the tribunal and the complainant.

The panel found the use of the generic words “simple” and “plan” in the domain name, in relation to a travel-related website operating in the way described by the respondent, was legitimate. The panel therefore found that, before any notice to the respondent of the dispute, the respondent had used the domain name in connection with a bona fide offering of travel-related services.

As for the question of the respondent’s registration and use of the domain name in bad faith, the panel found there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate that the respondent had any hand in preventing the complainant’s renewal of the domain name or that he should have known of the complainant’s mark at the time when he purchased the domain name at auction. Further, the complainant did not submit any evidence of its reputation in the countries where the respondent lives or conducts business. Thus, the panel concluded that the complainant had not shown, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the was targeting the complainant’s mark.

Simple Plan Inc. v. Michel Rog, FORUM Claim Number FA2111001973743 (January 4, 2022)