Case Number: D2024-2936
Complainant: Seed of Life Center for Early Learning and Preschool, Inc.
Represented by: K&L Gates, LLP
A Seattle-based preschool has been found guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking after a failed UDRP filing to force the transfer of the domain seedsoflifechildcare.com. Seed of Life Center for Early Learning and Preschool, Inc. had argued the domain was bought by its current owner in order to confuse and mislead the public, calling the registrant a direct competitor.
However, the sole panelist reviewing the case, W. Scott Blackmer, of the World Intellectual Property Organization, noted the respondent, who never filed a formal reply, operates a child care in Brooklyn, New York. The child care is also registered only with the state of New York and nowhere else.
Mr. Blackmer handed up his RDNH ruling against the Seattle child care company on September 13, 2024.
“In this case, the Complainant is represented by counsel and yet failed adequately to address the obvious issues,” Mr. Blackmer wrote. “Moreover … the Complainant was clearly overreaching in claiming that the Respondent in Brooklyn, New York is a “direct competitor” of the Complainant in Seattle, Washington and must have been targeting the Complainant’s mark.”
Source: https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/pdf/2024/d2024-2936.pdf