Category: WIPO

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Disputes News WIPO

Domain dispute proceedings over typo Twiter.com have been suspended

Twiter logo

It appears Twitter has requested that the proceedings over the disputed domain twiter.com be suspended. 

The micro blogging site filed a domain dispute (case #D2011-0890) over the web address twiter.com with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in early June, days later it added twiter.biz to its case. 

The owner of twiter.com has used the web address typo to trick visitors into clicking links that promise free gifts after providing personal information such as email and address.

According to the latest website update (see below) by the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, the case status has been changed to ‘Suspended’, which indicates that Twitter has reached a settlement with the respondent.  

Twitter WIPO UDRP Suspended

As of today though, the domain names twiter.com and twiter.biz are not in the hands of Twitter and twiter.com continues to re-direct visitors to an online survey website.  If the respondent in the case fails to transfer the domain names or fulfill their end of the agreement, Twitter can file a request to re-institute the proceedings.

Either way, this domain dispute seems like an open and shut case whether the case is terminated or reinstated. 

Twitter’s only other case filed to date with WIPO involved twittersearch.com back in 2010, a domain dispute that also never reached a panel, but was transferred to Twitter.

Categories
Disputes News Trademarks WIPO

Pharmaceutical Product Development wins case to get PPD.com from its owner

ppd

Updated June 27, 2011, 2:53 PM:  The decision has been published on the WIPO website. 

**

It is a baffling case.  A global contract research organization providing drug discovery, development and lifecycle management services, will get the three-letter domain ppd.com, according to a WIPO UDRP decision handed down this week ordering the name transferred.

Pharmaceutical Product Development, Inc (who uses the web address ppdi.com) filed a complaint against Damian Macafee (a.k.a James M. Van Johns) back in April 2011 which caught the attention of other bloggers around the domain industry like Elliot Silver who wrote, “I really hate seeing UDRP filings for three letter .com domain names. In my opinion, three letter acronyms usually have many different meanings, and it’s generally tough to say who would have a right to own the name.”

Details of the WIPO UDRP decision have yet to be released, but are expected to be posted online in the next few days.

Damian Macafee owns over 1,000 domain names, many of which are three-letter .com and .net names. 

Over the last 10+ years, Damian’s had to fight a number of disputes. 

He lost the case to keep baseballweekly.com starting back in 2000, then went on to lose oxford-online.com, resicom.com, attworldnet.com, fredricksofhollywood.com, carrefour.net, micorosft.com, walkman.net, and adm.org.

Although the WIPO panel determined that it was “somewhat questionable” adm.org was registered in bad faith, Damian still lost the case because the panel asserted he had registered and used domain names in bad faith in the past.

The only case he’s successfully defended to date at WIPO involved fcc.org in 2004.  The complaint was filed by Family & Children’s Center Inc.  Damian won after the panel found that the complainant had not established that he had registered the domain name in bad faith.  The complainant was also not the owner of a registered trademark or service mark for FCC.

Damian Macafee, I imagine, hasn’t been too happy about domain disputes filed against him over the years.  Screenshot history for the domain name ppd.com and many others in his portfolio display the words “F**k You”, according to DomainTools.

I’ve reached out to Damian to discover more about the case and will update this post if I receive a response.

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Disputes News WIPO

Twitter adds twiter.biz to its case at WIPO

Official Twitter homepage

Twitter has added an additional domain name to its dispute recently filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over the typo twiter.com. 

According to the WIPO Guide to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), “Under Paragraph 3(c) of the UDRP Rules, the Complaint may relate to more than one domain name, so long as the person or entity that is the registrant of the domain names specified in the Complaint is the same.”

Although twiter.biz doesn’t resolve at the time of this story, twiter.com still has a website online that tricks visitors who accidentally type in the address into thinking they’re on an official Twitter page.  

An online survey then asks a series of questions before trying to gather your cell phone and e-mail information.

A compliance review is currently pending for WIPO Case D2011-0986.

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Disputes News WIPO

Twiter.com (typo) domain dispute is not the only problem name for Twitter

Tweeter surveys

If you’re a frequent Twitter user, at some point you may have accidentally misspelled the URL and ended up landing on a web page promising you a free iPad 2 for simply filling out a short, anonymous 30 second questionnaire.

On Saturday, I was the first to report that Twitter Inc had filed a complaint with the owner of the domain name twiter.com, who uses the same tactic mentioned above of confusing visitors into thinking they’re on an official, legit site.  The story grabbed headlines from The Inquisitr to The Next Web and The Domains to the Financial Post.

Though it could take months for a decision to be handed down by a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) panel, the outcome (if in favor of Twitter) could pave the way for other Twitter (typo) domain names.  That is, if Twitter files cases against other Twitter (typo) domains that use the same method of diverting users to an unrelated site that is confusingly similar to Twitter’s own.

If Twiter.com loses, several others could follow. 

Here’s a list of other Twitter (typo) domain names using the very same technique as Twiter.com.

twitte.com – redirects users to tweetersurveys.com.  The website reported over 20,000 unique visitors in May 2010, according to a rough estimate by Compete. 

twtter.com – redirects users to quizedonline.com and other random Twitter-looking survey sites.  Twtter.com reported over 25,000 visits in August 2010.

tiwitter.com, twiteer.com, twutter.com, and teitter.com – all redirect users to socialquizcenter.com, a survey site that no longer resolves.

I didn’t list twttr.com.  That’s because twttr.com as you may already know, is owned by Twitter and is the original name for the micro-blogging service.

Categories
Disputes News WIPO

Twitter finally files domain dispute over typo – Twiter.com

twiter

Micro blogging site Twitter has filed a domain dispute over the web address twiter.com with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) this week.

The domain has long tricked visitors who typed in the address by sending them to a confusingly similar looking site.  Currently when you type in twiter.com in your web browser, you’ll be taken to a website (screenshot above) that tries to lure you into giving your personal information.

In August 2010, twiter.com reached a high of 125,000 unique visitors according to a rough estimate by Compete.  Recorded traffic dipped after the URL began redirecting visitors to other sites.

According to DomainTools, the name was first registered in 2004, nearly 2 years before Jack Dorsey launched the site.  However, the registrant information has changed over the years.

The respondent in the case is currently hidden behind WHOIS privacy.

Registration Service Provided By: PBCRESELLER
Contact: +85.1234567

Domain Name: TWITER.COM

Registrant:
    PrivacyProtect.org
    Domain Admin      
    ID#10760, PO Box 16
    Note – All Postal Mails Rejected, visit Privacyprotect.org
    Nobby Beach
    null,QLD 4218
    AU

The only other case filed to date by Twitter Inc with WIPO involved twittersearch.com back in 2010, a domain dispute that wasn’t decided by WIPO,  but the company still was successful in having the name transferred. 

As I reported in February, though no decision had been officially announced by WIPO and the case was cancelled, the registrant of twittersearch.com is now Twitter, Inc.

Discussion:  Financial Post, TheDomains, Asian Correspondent, The Next Web, and the The Inquisitr.