Case Number: D2023-0084
Complainant: Hale Law, P.A.
Represented by: Maxey-Fisher, PLLC
In a case laced with eponymous irony, a Sarasota, Florida-based law firm has been found guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking for attempting to steal the domain GoToHale.com using the UDRP process. Hale Law, P.A., had filed a UDRP for the domain, basing their complaint on a U.S. trademark for the mark, “Go To Hale”, a play on the phrase, “Go To Hell!”, using the name of the firm’s managing partner, Patrick M. Hale.
The trademark for the phrase was registered in late December 2021; however, the domain was registered by its current owner, Roger Hale, in 2000. For his part, Patrick Hale only started practicing law in Florida in 2014.
A three-member panel of the World Intellectual Property Organization handed up its ruling of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking against Hale Law, P.A. on April 20, 2023.
Source: https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/pdf/2023/d2023-0084.pdf