Case Number: NAF 2030007
Complainant: Empower Media Partners, LLC
Represented by: Matthew A. Homyk of Blank Rome LLP
Empower Media Partners, LLC, more commonly known as Empower Media Marketing, has been found guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking for trying to steal the domain empowermedia.com from its current owner, M. Jarrar. Jarrar is a Canadian businessman doing who responded to EMP’s UDRP by noting he has been using the ‘Empower Media’ mark since 2007, having incorporated in Canada under the name Empower 360, Inc. in December of that year. Further, Jarrar, whose company specializes in technology-related services, has owned the domain empowermedia.com since 2010.
Empower Media Partners, with offices in Cincinnati, Chicago and Atlanta, claimed to have accrued common-law trademark rights dating to the time its started business, in 1985; however, the company did not acquire any actual registered trademark until 2018, some 33 years later, and nearly eight full years after Mr. Jarrar’s domain purchase.
A three-member panel of the National Arbitration Forum found Empower Media Partners guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking on March 7, 2023.
Source: https://www.adrforum.com/DomainDecisions/2030007.htm