Case Number: D2019-0428
Complainant: Admire Your Smile, PC - Dr. Brian Henningsen
Represented by: Dunlap, Bennett & Ludwig
A dental company based in Jefferson City, Missouri, has been found guilty of attempted reverse domain name hijacking after an effort to gain control of the domain admireyoursmile.com. The company, Admire Your Smile, P.C., was represented by the international law firm of Dunlap, Bennett & Ludwig, which also has several offices throughout the United States. The primary dentist at the Missouri firm is Brian Henningsen, and the company’s current website is drhenningsen.com. The respondent was another dentist, James Hensley, a sole practitioner in Lynbrook, New York, on Long Island.
The sole panelist in the decision, W. Scott Blackmer, of the World Intellectual Property Organization, wrote a lengthy decision, but concluded that some of the arguments presented by the Missouri dental firm, through its attorneys, were “argued disingenuously.”
“This case does seem to reflect an illegitimate domain name acquisition strategy,” Blackmer wrote pointedly.
“There are obvious gaps in the evidence and argumentation presented in the Complaint, he continued, “despite signs that the Complainant’s counsel was aware that the third element, bad faith, would appear on its face to be impossible to establish.”
The ruling was handed up April 17, 2019.
Source: https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/search/text.jsp?case=D2019-0428