RPG Life Sciences Ltd. Guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking

RPG Life Sciences Ltd. has been found Guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking on the domain name RpgLife.com.The company was represented by Anand & Anand.

According to whois records, the domain name was first registered on October 28,2005.

RPG Life Sciences Ltd. tried to take the domain name from its owner without compensation, even though the company generated about $47 million in 2012 and 2013.

RPG Life Sciences argued that :

“-The Disputed Domain Name is confusingly similar to its trademarks, because the Disputed Domain Name incorporates in its entirety the RPG trademark (presumably alluding to Oki Data Americas, Inc. v. ASD, Inc. WIPO Case No. D2001-0903) and that the similarity is not removed by the addition of the word “life”. Alternatively, it submits the Disputed Domain Name wholly incorporates its registered RPG LIFE trade mark, thus compounding the potential for confusion. The Complainant also contends that it has common law rights in the marks in the United States of America pursuant to reputation flowing from patents registered in its name in that country.

-It was registered “for the purpose of piggybacking on the goodwill and reputation of the Complainant in India and worldwide.” On the issue of use, the Complainant contends that “there is no use or intention to use the domain name for any legitimate purpose” and that “there could be no plausible explanation for the use of the domain name <rpglife.com> by the Respondent since the Complainants trade/service mark RPG and RPG LIFE is an invented word” and further alleges that the Respondent used the Disputed Domain Name to direct internet traffic to another website address.”

The respondent, James Mathe of Greenfield, Wisconsin, United States of America, said :

“None of the evidence presented by the Complainant precedes or even relates to this period of time. Furthermore, there is no evidence which is indicative of awareness either globally or locally within Respondent’s jurisdiction”. Respondent also contends that the purpose of operating the website at the Disputed Domain Name is to run a social website for the RPG player community, providing them with a platform to discuss their RPG experiences. The Respondent admits that the redirection of the website at the Disputed Domain Name to another website address is true, given that the Respondent’s other website is fully developed for the same activity.

Finally, the Respondent contends that the Complaint is brought in bad faith, in “a malicious attempt to defame the Respondent as a cybersquatter and bully him out of a domain name that he has legitimately held for a significant period of time” and that this constitutes reverse domain name hijacking, as contemplated by paragraph 15(e) of the Rules.”

RPG Life Sciencecs Ltd has been found Guilty of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking by a one member URDP Panel.

You can read the decision here.