Case Number: NAF 2026883
Complainant: Academy Ltd.
Represented by: Darin M. Klemchuk
As if a cloudy scope prevented them seeing the obvious, an outdoor sporting goods company, which also sells the Redfield line of firearms accessories, has been found guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking in their effort to steal the domain redfield.com from a domain investor. Academy Ltd., based in Katy, Texas, just west of Houston, was handed the RDNH ruling by a three-member panel of the National Arbitration Forum, after the NAF panel found the company should have been aware, well ahead of time, that its trademarks in the “redfield” name, did not grant it any exclusivity to the term. The ruling was handed up by the NAF panel on February 21, 2023.
In issuing its decision, the panel observed that evidence clearly showed the term, redfield, is a common name, including for geographical locations and the surnames of people. Additionally, the domain investor who responded to the complaint, Ramesh Singh, had recently acquired the domain in an online public auction, in which Academy Ltd. could have participated.
Source: https://www.adrforum.com/DomainDecisions/2026883.htm