traverselegal - May 8, 2012 - Cybersquatting Law, Cybersquatting Lawsuits & Cases, Experienced Cyber Squatting Lawyer - Attorney
UDRP arbitrations under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy are much more simple than, say, cybersquatting litigation, filing a cybersquatting lawsuit in a federal court, but they still require a level of experience. A UDRP complaint needs to deal with the basic elements as spelled out under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy if you are going to have any chance of winning your UDRP proceeding. A good UDRP lawyer is going to be able to assess your case even before filing the complaint to tell you what your odds are of being successful in achieving what you’re always after in a UDRP arbitration, which is an order that the domain name should transfer to your control.
Welcome to Cybersquatting Law Radio where domain name, cybersquatting, and trademark domain name issues are always the hottest topic of discussion. Whether you are a trademark owner who believes they are a victim of cybersquatting or a domain owner wrongly accused of trademark infringement, you will find all the tips you need to protect your rights right here.
Enrico Schaefer: Welcome to Cybersquatting Law Radio. My name is cybersquatting and domain dispute attorney, Enrico Schaefer, and today we’re talking about UDRP arbitration. Should you hire a UDRP attorney to handle your UDRP complaint?
UDRP arbitrations under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy are much more simple than, say, cybersquatting litigation, filing a cybersquatting lawsuit in a federal court, but they still require a level of experience. A UDRP complaint needs to deal with the basic elements as spelled out under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy if you are going to have any chance of winning your UDRP proceeding. A good UDRP lawyer is going to be able to assess your case even before filing the complaint to tell you what your odds are of being successful in achieving what you’re always after in a UDRP arbitration, which is an order that the domain name should transfer to your control.
In any domain name dispute, there are a variety of issues that need to be looked at, and there’s certainly an important aspect of this. You need to understand who the respondent is at a very high level. Doing the back end research, doing everything that you can, even beyond the domain WHOIS information, to figure out who you’re going up against is important.
One big reason why you want to hire a UDRP lawyer to handle it is because a UDRP lawyer knows how to go into the back end data of the DNS and the WHOIS database to be able to say, “Well, what other domains might this person have in their portfolio which are also arguably infringing my trademark?” You don’t want to bring a UDRP arbitration proceeding for a single domain when, in fact, that domain registrant has a dozen variations of your trademark. You’re able to find that out through certain paid for proprietary databases that a UDRP attorney knows how to access.
There are some other critical items here that a UDRP lawyer is going to be taking a look at before even filing the complaint. They’re going to be looking at your trademark rights, whether or not you have a registered trademark or will be relying on common law trademark rights to support your claim. Obviously, if you have a trademark registration through the USPTO, that is helpful. If you’re relying on common law trademark rights to support your UDRP complaint, that is a much more challenging endeavor. A good UDRP lawyer is going to take a look at your first use in commerce in relation to the registration date of the domain name.
Again, there are databases that are proprietary that can be accessed to say how long has this person, the person who you believe is cybersquatting on your domain been the registrant of the domain. If the WHOIS registration changed two years ago, you need to understand whether or not that was a substantive change, a new registrant, or whether or not that registrant just updated the WHOIS database to change some of the information, including maybe, moving the registrant name from their personal name to the company name or vice versa.
You have to establish that the respondent to the UDRP complaint actually registered the domain after and really in contemplation of your trademark rights, so when is the date of your trademark rights versus when is the date of the domain registration. A UDRP complaint should not be filed if you cannot establish the timeline comparing your trademark first use in commerce date with the date of the registration of the trademark itself. So, these are very important issues.
Hire a trademark attorney who understands UDRP arbitration proceedings. A good UDRP lawyer can help you understand whether or not it makes sense to spend the money and pay the fees associated with filing a UDRP complaint, or whether or not you should perhaps, send a threat letter or file a UDRP threat letter or notice letter to the person, or go right to a cybersquatting lawsuit under the ACPA. In some instances, a UDRP lawyer will tell you that you have such a low opportunity of being successful that you should simply either walk away or perhaps, engage the domain owner in discussion about purchasing their domain name.
My name is UDRP and cybersquatting attorney, Enrico Schaefer. We’ll see you next time.
You’ve been listening to Cybersquatting Law Radio. Whether you are filing or defending a claim of cybersquatting under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) or Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), we have a cybersquatting and domain dispute attorney ready to answer your questions.
