DNSO Archives: [ga-udrp]

I'm writing you regarding my forty day ownership of the domain buzzer.com. As you may be aware by a few posts on the ga i'm a little distressed about the fashion in which this domain was taken from me. I am somewhat new to the internet and how it all works but i'm quite put off at the way large organizations and lawyers can push people around in their own medium.

To get to the facts at hand, I registered the domain when it expired through snapnames.com. I went to work laying out large plans for my business as buzzer.com. I know enough to know buzzer.com was going to be a large asset for my business. I've been in contracting and construction and this was where my initial plans for this domain lie. I've been known as "buzzer" for about seven years. (only because of my precision carpentry ability and speed. It also correlated closely to my real name so it always stuck. I dreamed for many years of possibly doing business locally under this name.

In the meantime, I was approached by Duane Cleveland of the rock band known as buzzer. Unknown to me he was a longtime friend of Mark Kaufmann, an ex band member, and ironically attorney for Buzzer inc.) I eventually discovered this was a plot to take the domain. I agreed to a partnership with Duane to promote his band as being in a band was one of my lifelong dreams. I was a child prodigy on the piano but lost two fingers in a table saw accident as a teen. I still played well and could easily promote a successful band with my pr skills. I agreed to no upfront cost from duane for my website work and his use of the domain. I wanted to show him what I could do. I documented about fifteen hours here. Everything came to light fairly quickly and before I knew it I had attorney Kaufmann calling me at work and at my home. He was quite harrassing and threatening and I asked him not to call me again but he did. He was quite rude and made me out to be some sort of criminal. He contacted other people to see I didn't try and partner with anybody else and claim some other "legitimate" use of the name. So, these people end up contacting me wanting to know what was going on. I was appauled to say the least.

After countless hours of investigation I found the domain was involved in a previous wipo suit with refract llc. of London. Upon talking extensively and directly with them I realize they were quite upset at the lack of any attention to detail within the UDRP. They felt completely unheard and ripped off.

At this point, my inexperienced got the best of me, I knew I had to take steps to protect myself and I felt quite trapped after a failing negotiation with atty Kaufmann. I transferred the domain to an associate. He became uncomfortable from the same threats and so I took it back. Before I knew it, we got notice from tucows they were reversing the registratoin as an administrative mistake had occured. I could hardly believe it. I had at least thought I'd see my day in court. How can Tucows do this? Are there any precedents for such cases? I don't understand. The courts and the registrars surely can't be expected to police corporations unregistered trademarks? It was my contention businesses have to protect their tm rights. I was told I'd receive a refund. That hasn't happened. Not that that matters because I lost over seventy hours and I value my time much more than the $35. I just wanted to point that out.

Is there anything I can do or is the little guy usually the big loser on the internet? I offer my sincere thanks for your time and attention and welcome your thoughts. Please contact me at your convenience.

My name is Chris McElroy aka NameCritic. If you are a GA Member or read the WG Archives you might know who I am. Korey has kept me informed on these events and I have archived a lot of the stuff the lawyer sent him. He has sought advice regarding Buzzer.com from me and I did soime research of my own.

There are a lot of precedents as to why Korey would likely win a UDRP Action in this case. One being the responsibility of a Company to properly police their own Mark. Buzzer Inc. in winning this domain name once in a UDRP Action cannot be considered naive about the process and failed to renew their domain name and seek to have the Arbitrators again retrieve their domain name for them.

Another is due to many witnesses as to Korey's nickname. (See Sting case) Another point to make is the existance of 9 TMs on the word Buzzer in different classifications with Buzzer Inc.'s not even being the oldest TM> C.A. Hones holds that distinction and is also interested in the domain name and asked to be linked from the website at Buzzer.com if Korey was to own it. They did not threaten with a UDRP Action.

Whether anyone agrees or disagrees with the merits of Korey's case and whether or not he would have won is irrelevant and with the UDRP as inconsistant as it has been no one can possibly predict the outcome of a case with these complications. The real point is Korey never got the chance to find out and wants his day in court.

This Lawyer went beyond ethics in this case. He made threats to not only Korey but to companies who had not even been contacted by Korey but are ones the Lawyer thought might be contacted by him. Tucows was the registrar and through what was indicated in email to Korey the Attorney I assume threatened to sue them as well. Tucows responded by transferring the domain name back to Buzzer Inc. without Korey getting a chance at Arbitration.

I consider this a serious matter and I hope it will be addressed by the UDRP Task Force. If I have any say this will be a major issue addressed there. Companies do this all the time. They send threatening emails hoping that they scare an individual into giving up their domain name because they cannot afford a lawyer to help them defend from such frivolous lawsuits.

This is a practice prescribed to and by many IP Lawyers, some of them posting the suggestion to do so on their websites and on mailing lists like TMTopics, the NTIA List. They are blatant and open about using this sort of intimidation and some like Porsche have bragged publicly about how many people have given up their domain names without a fight.

I would sincerely appreciate it if you would look into Korey's complaint. When I asked Ross of Tucows about it on the GA List, people responded with similar questions about a Registrar routing around the UDRP in this fashion. Ross promised to have someone prepare a report to the GA about it if there was interest. There was. This was about 3 weeks ago. Still no response about it from Ross and I don't expect there will be one. Buzzer Inc. and Tucows are hoping Korey will go away. He won't and neither will those of us who consider this a classic case of a domain name being stolen from the registrant without due process. Without even the lopsided UDRP and the chance to defend the right to register the domain name.

PS: Since there has been interest on the ga-udrp list in this case I am cc'ing the list as well. Hope you understand. We need some action on this case to see if this practice is going to be accepted or rejected by ICANN and the Registrar's Constituency.

[ga-udrp]

[ga-udrp] Re: I should be sleeping. lol