Tag: udrp

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Disputes News WIPO

Toys “R” Us, which acquired the internet domain Toys.com in 2009, files dispute for nearly two dozen domain names

Geoffrey the Giraffe

Geoffrey, LLC, the company that owns and operates Toys”R”Us has filed a domain dispute over nearly two dozen domain names with WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization. 

The disputed domains, which use the “R” Us mark at the end of the web address, cover a wide variety of products and services ranging from insurance, to attorneys, even to tattoos.  

Geoffrey LLC has won disputes in the past over domain names that clearly involved cybersquatting.  Names such as: wwwtoysrus.com, wwwtoyrus.com, babyrus.com, and babysrus.com.  However, the company hasn’t been so lucky when the domain names being disputed, weren’t outright abusive registrations. 

In 2006, the company lost a dispute at WIPO over pensareus.com and pensrus.com, after the panel found that the dispute was more appropriate for the courts rather than UDRP, which it stated is intended for the narrow class of cases involving cybersquatters.

The domain names named in the latest dispute include:

bestcreditcardsrus.info
carinsurancequoterus.info
cheaptermlifeinsuranceratesrus.info
childrensbedroomfurniturerus.com
dentalinsuranceplansrus.com
desklampsrus.com
digitalproductsrus.com
edmontonlawyerrus.info
floridainjurylawyerrus.info
freeonlinegamesrus.com
healthinsurancerus.info
homebusinessopportunityrus.com
injuryattorneyrus.info
insurancerus.info
makingmoneyonlinerus.com
personalinjurylawyersrus.com
stringtrimmersrus.com
tattoosrus.info
therusgroup.com
watchbandsrus.com
wholelifeinsurancerus.info

Toys “R” Us and domain names

Toys “R” Us made internet headlines when it purchased the domain name toys.com for $5.1 Million at auction in 2009, beating out National A-1 in a competitive auction that went back and forth for hours, according to TechCrunch.

The purchase of toys.com, secured the domain name a spot in the top 10 domain sales of all time according to Domaining.com, which keeps track of the Top 500 sales in history.

Today, toys.com is a separate website from the Toys “R” Us site and is used to post a wide range of unadvertised and exclusive deals, not found anywhere on the Toys “R” Us network of internet properties.

According to news sources, Toys “R” Us is planning to go public sometime later this year.

Categories
Disputes News WIPO

Google Inc. files domain name dispute over Google TV typo — googletg.com

Google TV

Google Inc. has filed a complaint over the domain name googletg.com with WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization. 

The domain name appears to be a typo of Google’s own googletv.com, which re-directs to the Google TV home page located at http://google.com/tv.   According to Compete, a site that provides free information for every web address on the internet, the typo doesn’t even get enough traffic to be statistically relevant. 

A look at Whois records shows the name currently registered to a, xuyecheng. 

Over the years Google has filed dozens of cases at WIPO and won.  As far as back as 2000, Google won wwwgoogle.com, but the company also goes after its other brands like vietnamadwords.com which it won in 2010.

Googletv Domain Typos

A number of variations of googletv.com such as googletv.info and googletv.org are registered to Google, however, many of the typos are not. 

The Domain Typo Finder provided by DomainTools, gives a clue as to what has been registered by individuals or organizations other than Google.

Once you type in the url googletv, results show dozens of typos already registered, and in many cases, to the same registrant. 

For example, “Song Bin”, is the registrant for wwwgoogletv.com, gogletv.com, googetv.com, gooletv.com, and gooogletv.com.

Another possibility for the domain dispute, if not over a typo of googletv.com, is over it’s country domain google.tg, for the country of Togo.

Categories
Disputes News WIPO

Twittersearch.com turned over to Twitter, after domain dispute filed back in Dec. ’10

Twitter Search

Back in Dec. 2010, Twitter Inc. filed a case against the owner of the domain Twittersearch.com with WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization.  As TechCrunch first reported, the UDRP complaint was the first ever since the company was founded.

The disputed domain is now registered to Twitter Inc, according to the latest Whois information and data provided by DomainTools.  News of the ownership change has not been reported by any other blog or news site.

The web address continues to resolve to a GoDaddy parked page as it had before the UDRP complaint.

The UDRP complaint, case number D2010-2073, is still active with WIPO.  And though no decision has been officially announced by WIPO as of today, the registrant is now Twitter, Inc. 

Will Twitter go after more Twitter domains?

While Twitter hasn’t filed any new cases with WIPO, it’s possible that some degree of precedence has been set on twitter domains. 

Robin Wauters suggested that Twitter-search.com might be the next disputed domain, but my money is on Searchtwitter.com. According to a rough estimate by Compete, Searchtwitter.com receives just as much type-in traffic (often more) than Twittersearch.com. 

And the owner of the domain, even has a For Sale page online suggesting the domain is available for purchase.

Searchtwitter.com Twittersearch.com

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News WIPO

WIPO proceedings over BlackberryTablet.com suspended, domain now registered to RIM

Blackberry Playbook Tablet

Last month, Research In Motion filed a complaint with WIPO over BlackberryTablet.com, a domain name that was first registered over 1 year ago on January 24, 2010. 

While details haven’t been released, it appears both parties have reached a settlement.  The case has been suspended at WIPO and as of yesterday, the domain name re-directs to the Playbook Tablet page on the Blackberry web site. 

And, as of Thursday, Feb. 10, the domain name is now registered to Research In Motion Limited according to Whois records.

Although RIM has had to file literally dozens of complaints over the years at WIPO in order to win web addresses that are clearly abusive registrations, the company does own BlackberryPlaybook.com and Playbooktablet.com.  But despite RIM expecting to be a major player in the tablet market, it doesn’t own all the domain names that could potentially help its online marketing even further.  Perhaps the best name for its tablet product, Playbook.com, is operated by Playbook Publications which runs a web site for sports handicapper Marc Lawrence.

The Blackberry Playbook is rumored to be launched some time next month or at the latest, by April.

Categories
Disputes News Trademarks Video Games WIPO

Zynga goes after ZyngaGiftcards.com and ZyngaWorld.com domain names

Zynga Gift Cards

Zynga has filed two domain name complaints concerning zyngagiftcards.com and zyngaworld.com with WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization. 

The complaints were filed today for ZyngaWorld.com and yesterday for ZyngaGiftcards.com. 

Zynga’s Domain Dispute Track Record

Zynga has had no problem winning domain disputes filed using the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, better known as UDRP. 

In all previous cases, the domain names were transferred from the respondent back to Zynga.  The list of domain names includes zynga-chips.com, zynga.cc, zyngachips.com, zyngapoker.com, buyzyngachips.net, cheapzyngachips.net, chips4zynga.com, yourzyngachips.com, and zyngachips4sell.com.

As TechCrunch reported in March 2010, Zynga rolled out gift cards at a number of major retailers in the U.S.  Though Zynga refers to them as “game cards“, they are essentially gift cards which can be used  for in-game currency to buy the items you want.

Zyngagiftcards.com is currently registered to Joanna Hewett according to Whois Records, and has been registered since December 2009.  Zyngaworld.com is registered to David Cahill of Australia. 

Oddly enough, Zynga doesn’t own zyngagamecards.com and hasn’t filed a dispute over the domain as of yet, even though it refers to its “gift cards” as “game cards”. 

The company also doesn’t own zyngaecards.com, online “game cards” that can be purchased and sent to users with a personal message.  What’s even stranger, is the domain name isn’t even registered at the time of this story, despite the number of abusive registrations the company regularly encounters.  But given Zynga’s success at WIPO, hopefully people will learn some lessons, and avoid these types of registrations.

Though the company will likely win these domain disputes and have the names transferred, they might not be as lucky with the trademark dispute over Blingville, which so far has backfired after Blingville responded with a lawsuit, and thousands have lined up to test and play the soon-to-be released Facebook game.

[Update 1: On March 21, 2011, the WIPO panel ordered the domain name zyngaworld.com transferred to Zynga.  The dispute for zyngagiftcards.com was terminated, after the owner agreed to turn over the name to Zynga.]