A registered trademark does not give automatic rights to a domain.
This is the second day in a row that an Australian company fails to grab an aged domain via a UDRP.
Yesterday, we covered Patricks.com and its Aussie Complainant; today, it’s the turn of TheBeachPeople.com, a domain registered in 1999.
The Australian company The Beach People International Pty Ltd, really wanted this 17 year old dot .com, and claimed that it’s been sitting “unused” all this time.
The Aussie Complainant obtained their THE BEACH PEOPLE mark in 2013, a full 14 years after the .com was registered, but the Respondent came well-prepared:
- Respondent has been using the THE BEACH PEOPLE mark since 1991 to promote its business offering real estate and vacation rental services.
- Respondent registered the <thebeachpeople.com> domain name on August 6, 1999 in furtherance of this business purpose. Respondent’s use of the THE BEACH PEOPLE mark predates Complainant’s filing and registration dates of the mark with trademark authorities, and Complainant does not assert common law rights to the THE BEACH PEOPLE mark that predate Respondent’s use of the mark.
- Complainant has failed to meet its prima facie burden that Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the <thebeachpeople.com> domain name. Respondent has used the THE BEACH PEOPLE mark since 1991, and it is, and has always been, Respondent’s intention to use the disputed domain name to further promote Respondent’s services; Respondent has yet to publish its website posted to the disputed domain name.
- Respondent has not registered or used the <thebeachpeople.com> domain in bad faith. Respondent’s registration of the disputed domain name predates Complainant’s first use by nearly 14 years. Further, as aforementioned, Respondent has yet to publish its website posted to the disputed domain, so Complainant has failed to meet its burden of showing that Respondent registered and is using the domain in bad faith.
In the end, the sole panelist delivered a finding in favor of the Respondent, and ordered the aged domain, TheBeachPeople.com, to remain with them.
Surprisingly, there was no finding of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking in this case.
For the full text of this UDRP decision, click here.
