Office of Medical & Scientific Justice, Inc. represented by Matthew H. Swyers of The Trademark Company, LLC, Virginia, USA. was just found guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH) in attempted theft of the domain names hivinnocencegrouptruth.com and hivinnocenceprojecttruth.com by a one member National Arbitration Forum UDRP decision.
The one member panel in finding RDNH said:
“The Panel finds Complainant has engaged in reverse domain name hijacking because it was clear Respondent was legitimately using Complainant’s mark to make a legitimate noncommercial or fair use of the domain name, without intent for commercial gain to misleadingly divert consumers or to tarnish the trademark or service mark at issue. Complainant clearly knew this before it began this proceeding. Complainant did not disclose this obvious fact in its Complaint.”
Here are the rest of the findings of the Panel:
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(1) the domain name registered by Respondent is not identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which Complainant has rights; and<
(2) Respondent has rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and
(3) the domain name has been registered and is not being used in bad faith.
Complainant claims rights in the HIV INNOCENCE GROUP mark based on its registration of the mark with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”) (Reg. No. 4,164,161 filed October 25, 2011, registered June 26, 2012).
Complainant’s registration confers rights in the mark under Policy ¶4(a)(i) dating back to October 25, 2011, the date on which Complainant filed its trademark application.
The rights conferred pursuant to Complainant’s USPTO registration do not predate Respondent’s July 2011 registration of the disputed domain names.
Complainant claims it has used the service mark HIV INNOCENCE GROUP throughout the United States to identify its private investigation services since at least 2009. Complainant’s business consists of providing detective and background investigation services to criminal defendants to assist in proving their innocence, detective and background investigation services in criminal and civil cases to assist a party in proving its case, and expert witness services in legal matters in the field of HIV cases.
Complainant registered the domain name to launch its Internet presence on October 9, 2009 in connection with the promotion of its services. Complainant launched its web site located at as early as January 10, 2010. Complainant’s trademark registration lists 0-0-2009 as the first use in commerce for the HIV INNOCENCE GROUP mark, meaning the mark was first used some time prior to 2009.…