Valuable domain was registered well before Complainant existed.
A vape refills company has lost an attempt to reverse hijack the valuable domain name Munchies.com.
Munchies, LLC filed the dispute against the domain name originally registered in 1998.
The company was assigned a trademark for “munchies” for “Electronic cigarette liquid (e-liquid) comprised of flavorings in liquid form, other than essential oils, used to refill electronic cigarette cartridges” earlier this year. That trademark cites a first use date in 2017.
Munchies, LLC made no argument that the domain name had changed hands since 1998. Thus, it was impossible to argue that the domain was registered in bad faith to target the non-existent trademark.
Panelist Alan L. Limbury wrote:
The Panel finds that “munchies” is a common dictionary word meaning “edibles” and that the registration of such words for sale without intent to trade off the goodwill of the owner of a corresponding trademark is a legitimate business. Here, the MUNCHIES mark was not used in commerce until almost 19 years after the registration of the domain name, so it is inconceivable that Respondent could have had Complainant, its predecessor or its MUNCHIES mark in mind when registering the domain name. Accordingly, the Panel finds that, before any notice to Respondent of the dispute, Respondent has used the domain name in connection with a bona fide offering of services, namely the sale of the domain name. This demonstrates Respondent’s rights or legitimate interests to the domain name for purposes of Paragraph 4(a)(ii) of the Policy.
He also found reverse domain name hijacking:
The descriptive character of the domain name and the short time between the assignment of the mark to Complainant and the filing of its Complaint in this proceeding persuade the Panel that, despite Complainant being legally represented, the Complaint was brought in bad faith and constitutes an abuse of the administrative proceeding.
Jarrals Law represented the Complainant. The domain owner didn’t respond to the dispute.
Source: https://domainnamewire.com/
