Today, one of our loyal readers sent us an e-mail informing us that he scored a domain dispute victory against “swanky Beverly Hills attorneys” who tried to reverse hijack his Rebelde.com domain, starting in 2006.
He wrote… “A victory for the little domainer guy!!! I am a domainer of 2,000+ domains since 1999 and very much frequent your website. I thought it may be newsworthy in your website that my one year legal ordeal with corporate giants, Dori Media International and their swanky Beverly Hills attorneys, failed to reverse hijack my domain, Rebelde.com. It was indeed a “David & Goliath” battle with the result of the little guy winning in the end (i.e. Yours Truly).
Rebelde.com (”Rebel” in Spanish & Filipino) was for sale for the appraised value of $355,000.00. When first monetized at Sedo.com in April 2006, Rebelde.com was generating over $6,500 a month in income. Google results equal to about 12 million links. In mid 2006 I contacted Dori Media International, the international hispanic company behind the REBELDE telenovela, REBELDE musical pop sensation, and other media products, to buy the domain Rebelde.com. However, instead of cutting a deal to buy the domain, they thought they could get it for free and decided to take legal action by hiring Beverly Hills attorneys to reverse hijack the domain, claiming bad faith registration of the domain on my part as well as copyright infringements. They didn’t want to pay for a domain that clearly was suited for their media products. They wanted to push their legal weight around and bully the little guy with threats of six figure financial fines for copyright infringement as well as imprisonment.
Dori Media International’s attorney took this case to the World Intellectual Property Organization (www.WIPO.int). They emailed me their decision only yesterday. ” Here is the complete text of the WIPO decision:
“Rebelde.com …the most valuable domain name that could be associated with the newly famous REBELDE mark.
The Panel does conclude, however, that this attempt was made in bad faith within the meaning of paragraph 15(e) of the Rules. The corporate Complainant [Dori Media International], represented by reputable intellectual property counsel [Keats McFarland & Wilson LLP] in Beverly Hills, California, claimed bad-faith registration and use of the Domain Name despite evidence of years of legitimate use and the glaring fact that the Complainant had no trademark rights at the time the Respondent registered the Domain Name in 1999. It is surprising and disappointing that experienced counsel would prosecute a UDRP complaint with such obvious defects, and it suggests overreaching on the part of the Complainant.
-World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center
W. Scott Blackmer, Sole Panelist”
DomainNews thanks you for sharing your story and congratulates you on fighting back and maintaining ownership of Rebelde.com!
Source: E-mail sent to DomainNews.com by the Defendant – January 8th, 2008
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