Case Number: D2017-1964
Complainant: CPA Global Limited
Represented by: House counsel
An intellectual property firm operating from the Channel Islands, CPA Global Limited, was found guilty of attempted Reverse Domain Name Hijacking by a panel of the World Intellectual Property Organization. The three-member WIPO panel handed up its ruling December 26, 2017, proving a late holiday gift to the respondent, Kobre and Kim LLP, of New York, which is representing members of a class-action lawsuit against the IP firm. CPA Global had attempted to use the UDRP process to acquire the domain cpaglobal-lawsuit.com.
In issuing its response, the Kobre and Kim wrote is quite common for a company’s trademark name to be added when selecting a domain in a lawsuit. “It is common to add the term ‘litigation’, ‘lawsuit’, ‘settlement’, or ‘class action’ to the relevant trade mark or service mark of a target of the litigation,” the firm contended. “Courts in the United States have referred to such websites without any controversy.”
The WIPO board found the complainant should have known at the outset its action was “doomed to fail”, particularly noting the nature of the website and the legal actions underway against CPA Global.
“The Panel considers the Complainant launched the proceedings primarily to harass the Respondent and disrupt its lawsuit,” the decision reads.
Source: https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/search/text.jsp?case=D2017-1964