Case Number: NAF 2046327
Complainant: JoshCo Group, LLC d/b/a/ Veterans Benefits Guide
Represented by: Timothy Getzoff of Holland & Hart, LLP
The company that publishes Veterans Benefits Guide, JoshCo Group, LLC, based in Las Vegas, Nevada, has been found guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking in its effort to steal the domain VBG.com from its current owner. The RDNH ruling was handed up June 22, 2023 by a three-member panel of the National Arbitration Forum.
In a lengthy written decision, a panel wrote JoshCo’s UDRP filing was clearly designed to harass the domain owner, as the company had no trademarks or other rights it could demonstrate for the VBG acronym. In fact, the panel noted that the company appeared to manipulate evidence, including making changes to its website, in order to bolster what the panel found to be a hollow claim
“It appears from the Wayback Machine at www.archive.org that the … uses of the VBG acronym and the emphasis on the letters “V”,”B” and “G” have been very recent indeed and may fairly be described as a recent invention,” the panel wrote.
Further, panelists made certain to specifically note they would have considered monetary damages for the Respondent in the case, if permitted. “[I]n defending what was essentially a baseless case, the Respondent must have been put to considerable time, trouble and cost in a jurisdiction where there is no provision for legal costs to be awarded to a successful respondent, which the Panel would have ordered, had it had power to do so,” the panel declared.
Source: https://www.adrforum.com/DomainDecisions/2046327.htm