The dispute submitted by Twitter Inc over the typo domain Twittter.com (with an extra ‘t’), comes on the heels of Twitter’s win this month in a similar complaint against the typo domain Twiter.com.
WIPO Case D2011-1973 was filed this week with the World Intellectual Property Organization.
In the case of Twittter.com, the owner is using a popular scam, like the one used by Twiter.com of luring unsuspecting users to a site that looks confusingly similar to the official Twitter site (as shown in the picture above).
The user is guided through a series of questions that attempts to gather personal information by promising free gifts like an iPad 2.
Today, the full administrative panel decision was posted in the case of Twiter.com, which involved Twitter, Inc (the complainant) vs. Geigo, Inc of Albrook Park, Panama (the respondent).
According to the factual background, prior to filing its complaint, Twitter sent several cease-and-desist letters to Geigo, but received no reply.
Twitter finally reached a Geigo Inc. rep by telephone, who confirmed that they would not transfer the disputed domain name but would consider altering the content at the website.
This apparently, never happened.
Twitter demonstrated confusing similarity, that Geigo lacked rights or a legitimate interest in the domain, and that it was registered in bad faith, which might surprise some readers since the domain was first registered in 2004.
Here’s what the panel had to say on the point of ‘bad faith’: “Had Respondent made the initial registration in 2004 and maintained ownership through 2011 the Panel would likely have reached a different outcome about Respondent’s having registered the disputed domain name in bad faith. But Respondent has not even alleged that it or an affiliate owned the disputed domain name continuously since 2004, and has offered no proof (indeed no allegation) that it is or was affiliated with any prior owner. The available evidence, not contested by Respondent, shows another owner as late as March 2011.”
Twittter.com (extra ‘t’) is currently registered to Goldberg Client Services, Inc. according to WHOIS records (privacy has been removed as of yesterday). The domain was initially registered by its first owner in 2007.
Given the track record of WIPO with Twitter, Twittter.com will likely be ordered transferred.
You can read through all the details of the Twiter.com decision in Twitter’s latest win here.
[Update 2 on January 26, 2012: The WIPO Panel has ordered <twittr.com> to be transferred to Twitter Inc. Details of the decision are available here.]
[Update 1 on November 15, 2011,: Robin Wauters of TechCrunch pointed out that Twitter has filed a separate complaint (WIPO Case D2011-1992) over Twittr.com.]
Discussion: Search Engine Land and TechCrunch