Has anyone here been on the receiving end of an ICANN UDRP before? Ever won one?
For anyone not familiar, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers) is essentially the governing body for domain names. A UDRP (Uniform Domain-name Dispute-Resolution Policy) is the policy which ICANN uses to resolve disputes related to domain names.
I'm writing this up quick, so I apologize in advance if I'm omitting any detail.
Through most of 2014 I was promoting an affiliate offer and doing quite well with it. Naturally I wanted to increase my margins and I put a lot of thought into setting up my own version of the product I was selling. I registered a domain name that I wanted to use (which happened to be similar to that of the advertiser I was promoting) last April. Think barstool.com versus barstools.com (and imagine they sold bar stools). Something pretty generic and, as such, good luck getting a trademark.
I had some differences with the advertiser and parted ways with them last August (not going to get into it here) but I was at that point pretty close to being able to offer my own service. Fast forward to March 2015 - I finally launch the site (we had some [a lot of] delays) and less than a month later I'm served up a UDRP notice.
Being as I am offering a legitimate service at this domain, the competitor didn't take reasonable measures to secure the domain in question, and he also has no trademark to enforce I'm pretty sure it won't be difficult to defend. I'm just wondering if anyone else has dealt with a similar issue. Any recommendations for legal representation? Going at it without a lawyer? Filing a civil suit?
For anyone not familiar, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers) is essentially the governing body for domain names. A UDRP (Uniform Domain-name Dispute-Resolution Policy) is the policy which ICANN uses to resolve disputes related to domain names.
I'm writing this up quick, so I apologize in advance if I'm omitting any detail.
Through most of 2014 I was promoting an affiliate offer and doing quite well with it. Naturally I wanted to increase my margins and I put a lot of thought into setting up my own version of the product I was selling. I registered a domain name that I wanted to use (which happened to be similar to that of the advertiser I was promoting) last April. Think barstool.com versus barstools.com (and imagine they sold bar stools). Something pretty generic and, as such, good luck getting a trademark.
I had some differences with the advertiser and parted ways with them last August (not going to get into it here) but I was at that point pretty close to being able to offer my own service. Fast forward to March 2015 - I finally launch the site (we had some [a lot of] delays) and less than a month later I'm served up a UDRP notice.
Being as I am offering a legitimate service at this domain, the competitor didn't take reasonable measures to secure the domain in question, and he also has no trademark to enforce I'm pretty sure it won't be difficult to defend. I'm just wondering if anyone else has dealt with a similar issue. Any recommendations for legal representation? Going at it without a lawyer? Filing a civil suit?
