Warner Bros. successful in cybersquatting dispute against DirtyHarry.com/
Warner Bros. has won a cybersquatting dispute it filed against the domain name DirtyHarry.com.
Dirty Harry is one of a few popular movies from the era that haven’t been made into a reboot, and the timing begs the question of whether one is on the horizon.
Thomas Hastings, Manager / Techhatch.com, LLC acquired the domain in a NameJet auction in 2020.
Hastings claimed that Dirty Harry had become a dictionary term, and that he registered the domain as a possible name for a home flipping business “to purchase dirty and distressed homes that other developers weren’t tough enough to take on and rehabilitate and resell them for profit[,] analogous to how Harry Callahan cleaned up the streets of San Francisco.”
In fairness to Hastings, he is a real estate developer. But Warner Bros. had some evidence that this might not have been his overarching plan in buying the domain: he listed the domain for sale, and even reached out to an attorney for Dirty Harry star Clint Eastwood, offering to sell the domain to him.
Hastings also tried to argue that he had pitched the domain to other entities that might be interested in it; Warner Bros argued he sent out a flurry of these overtures after finding out his domain had been locked because of the cybersquatting dispute.
Warner Bros. also pointed out that he owns a handful of domains that match famous trademarks, although none have been the subject of UDRP cases.
The majority of the three-person panel found in favor of Warner Bros. One panelist, Richard Hill, argued the case should be dismissed because it includes factors outside the scope of UDRP.
Haynes Boone, LLP represented Warner Bros., and Lewis & Lin LLC represented Hastings.
Source: https://domainnamewire.com/
