Attorney Steve® overview of legal liability for Reverse Cybersquatting

Attorney Steve® Domain Dispute Essentials - Bad Faith Abuse of UDRP Proceedings can lead to RDNH allegations in federal court.

In this important IP law podcast, Attorney Steve® discusses domain disputes with WIPO and the National Arbitration Forum.  Basically, these are what's known as "UDRP domain name disputes" and arises where a Plaintiff claims to have valid trademark rights that pre-date those of another party, and that the other party is thus, in essence, infringing its trademark.  

A UDRP action is a low cost arbitration and the domain name holder is required to submit to the proceeding (and yes, pay fees), so that the dispute can be heard.  While this is generally known as a quick and inexpensive way to protect a valid trademark, there is tremendous opportunity for abuse by Trademark Bully's seeking to over-reach and at times to file a UDRP complaint for no good reason other than to harass, bully, and try to strip away a domain name they often times wish they had purchased themselves (but lacked any real business acumen in this area).

This can force desperate people to do desperate things and if requested, the UDRP domain arbitration panel (one to three panel members) can be asked to declare that the complaint has engaged in "Reverse Domain Name Hijacking."  Once this hapens, it potentially opens doors in federal court to sue for RDNH and to seek recourse up to $100,000 per domain name, and costs and attorney fees.  There may also be other state law legal theories to tag on as part of supplemental jurisdiction. 

Click to listen to this IP podcast and learn more than most people know.  If you need help with a trademark lawsuit, declaratory judgment, UDRP domain dispute, cease and desist letter, or ACPA RDNH lawsuit, call us at (877) 276-5084 for more information.