UDRP doesn’t settle trademark disputes

Take your trademark disputes to court, not UDRP.

The word Trademarks on a dark blue green background with a stylized R symbol

Here’s a reminder to lawyers thinking about filing a cybersquatting case: UDRP is not a place to settle trademark disputes.

That’s essentially what a dispute over SmartPrivacy.com is about.

Gazey and Partners LLP, trading as Privacy Partnership, filed a UDRP (pdf) against One Trust over the domain name.

Both companies use the term Smart Privacy in their businesses. Both have at least one trademark related to the term.

This means it’s basically impossible for Gazey and Partners to prove that One Trust lacks rights or legitimate interests in the domain name. That’s a requirement to win a UDRP.

Gazey and Partners and One Trust seem to have a legitimate fight over who should be allowed to use the term Smart Privacy. That’s not an issue that a UDRP panel can resolve.

While finding in One Trust’s favor, World Intellectual Property Organization panelist Assen Alexiev noted, “…the relationship between the Parties involves complex issues of fact and law regarding concurrent and possibly conflicting trademark rights (better addressed in a court).”

Post link: UDRP doesn’t settle trademark disputes

© DomainNameWire.com 2022. This is copyrighted content. Domain Name Wire full-text RSS feeds are made available for personal use only, and may not be published on any site without permission. If you see this message on a website, contact editor (at) domainnamewire.com. Latest domain news at DNW.com: Domain Name Wire.

Related posts:

  1. Lawyer labels domain investing “Anticipatory Cybersquatting”
  2. UDRP works. Here’s how to fix it.
  3. Filing a UDRP when you have a common brand name
Back to top button