Case Number: D2023-3525
Complainant: Scentsational Shoppe, Inc.
Represented by: The Vanel Law Firm, P.C.
A scented-oil company based in Venice, Florida has been found guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking in connection with its effort to use the UDRP arbitration process to force the transfer of the domain perfume-oils.com. Scentsational Shoppe, Inc., which already owns perfumeoils.com – a near-identical domain, but without the hyphen – does not have a trademark for the generic term, itself, but instead a stylized mark that also includes an abbreviation, “PO Perfume Oils”. The trademark dates to 2018, but the domain was registered in 2016.
Given the lack of specific trademark rights, plus the fact the domain registration pre-dates the “PO Perfume Oils” mark more than two years, the lone panelist reviewing the case for the World Intellectual Property Organization, Lawrence K. Nodine, handed up a ruling of RDNH against Scentsational Shoppe on October 12, 2023.
Source: https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/pdf/2023/d2023-3525.pdf