S & H Enterprises, Inc. DBA Nationwide Lifts of New York, New York, just lost a UDRP on the very generic domain name nationwidelifts.com
S & H’s site is at elevette.com which they registered in 2003 and which I’m sure all domain investors would agree is a horrible domain.
S & H has trademarks on the term NATIONWIDE LIFTS: registered on June 14, 2005, with a filing date of August 18, 2004 and one registered on June 5, 2012
The domain holder which is in the same business as S & H selling elevators registered the domain name nationwidelifts.com on February 12, 2004.
Despite the domain being generic and recogized by the panel as such, and despite the fact that the domain was registered before the trademark was even filed for the sole panelist Mark Partridge did not find nor even discuss Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH) which should have been found I would say should a “matter of law”
Here are the relevant facts and findings:
“Between Respondent’s registration of the disputed domain name in February 2004 and June 2006, the disputed domain name resolved to a web page with an “under construction” notice.
In June 2006, the URL “www.nationwidelifts.com” began redirecting to the URL “www.abbeyaccess.com”.
Respondent’s previous elevator sales company is Abbey Access, which operates in California, as does Nationwide Lifts.
Complainant sent a letter to Respondent on August 18, 2006 requesting that Respondent discontinue use of the disputed domain name.
Beginning around September 2006, the disputed domain name began to redirect to the URL “www.naers.com”.
Subsequently, between October 2006 and October 2011, the disputed domain name was “parked” and remained inactive during this time.
According to the case record, Respondent does not appear to be known by the name Nationwide Lifts, nor is it authorized by Complainant to use the name. Respondent did not make actual use of the disputed domain name for a period of five years between 2006 and 2011 when Respondent had the site “parked”. Respondent did not conduct business through the disputed domain name, instead he used it merely as a site that would redirect to his own website, “www.naers.com”, when consumers visited the disputed domain name.
Accordingly, the Panel finds Respondent lacks any rights or legitimate interests in the Domain Name.
The more difficult question is whether the disputed domain name was registered in bad faith.
Complainant states that the prior company of Respondent, known as Abbey Access, was a direct competitor of Nationwide Lifts in California.…
