WIPO's First Reverse Hijacking Ruling

In Dan Zuckerman v. Vincent Peeris, a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) panel has held that a complaint brought by Complainant, Dan Zuckerman, is an attempt at Reverse Domain Name Hijacking of the domain name shoes.biz. Disputes regarding .biz domain names are governed by the Start-up Trademark Opposition Policy for .BIZ (STOP), which defines reverse domain name hijacking as "using the Policy in bad faith to attempt to deprive a registered domain-name holder of a domain name." The Complainant alleged that the Respondent, Vincent Peeris, had no legal rights or legitimate interest in the disputed domain name and that the domain name was registered in bad faith. The panel found that the Complainant had failed to demonstrate that the domain name was identical to the trade-mark or service in which the Complainant had rights. Furthermore, the Complainant was unsuccessful in demonstrating that the Respondent had no rights or legitimate interest in the domain name. Generally, the first person that registers a generic domain name in good faith creates a legitimate interest. In this case, the panel held that the Respondent had demonstrated an intent to develop a site for the bona fide sale of goods and was the first to register and therefore had a legitimate interest in the domain name. In addition, the panel held that there was no evidence of bad faith registration. The panel held that the complaint was brought in an attempt at reverse domain name hijacking since the Complainant was aware of the Respondent's legitimate interest or right in the domain name and was aware of the clear lack of a bad faith registration and use. For a copy of the decision, visit: http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2002/dbiz2002-00245.html