Case Number: D2022-1072
Complainant: Xiatech Consulting Ltd.
Represented by: Mishcon de Reya
A British consulting company, operating out of a residence in the United Kingdom, has been found guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking after trying to transfer the domain XiaTech.com using a UDRP. Xiatech Consulting Ltd., based just north of London in Hertfordshire, England, used a pending trademark application in the U.K., along with its ownership of the domain xiatech.co.uk, as its strongest evidence of common-law trademark status. The domain, xiatech.com, itself was registered in 2015, while xiatech.co.uk was registered in 2003, although the company was not incorporated until ten years later. Nonetheless, a sole panelist for the World Intellectual Property Organization handed up the ruling of RDNH on May 23, 2022.
In issuing his ruling, Panelist Matthew Kennedy, noted the scant evidence, combined with a recent effort to purchase the domain from its current owner, all left the panel with the idea the complainant was using the UDRP as a “Plan B” attempt to hijack a domain name it originally sought to purchase. “[T] he Panel notes that the Complaint was filed a little under two months after the Complainant sought and failed to acquire the disputed domain name from the Respondent,” Kennedy wrote.
Source: https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/pdf/2022/d2022-1072.pdf