The domain name FreshLook.com just got this with a UDRP filed with the National Arbitration Forum for a second time.
The domain FreshLook.com dropped and was in a auction at Snapnames.com which closed on January 30, 2013 with a high bid of $3,407.
Interestingly this exact domain name was the subject of a UDRP decided in December 2011, by the same complainant Novartis AG. against the domain owner at the time a Jose Maria Valdez.
In the December 2011 decision, the one member panel awarded the domain name to Novartis AG whose offical site for the product is Freshlookcontacts.com
So what happened?
Well we are not sure as the whois records are pretty confusing
It seems by the time the UDRP decision was rendered in December 2011, the domain was already in redemption period at Godaddy.com and never seemed to transferred away from the Jose Maria Valdez, the domain holder who lost the UDRP decsion.
As of January 2012 the domain was owned by PowerBrand Center LLC. showing an expiration date of November 2012 however by the end of 2012 the domain was owned once again by Jose Maria Valdez. and once again was in redemption.
In early 2013 the domain was back in the name of PowerBrand Center LLC still showing an expiration date of November 2012, but no longer in redemption.
On January 28th 2013 the domain registration was deleted and picked up by SnapNames.com and put into the auction which had over 50 backorders.
The domain whois currently lists the parent company of domain name of the registrar, that caught the domain, Endurance International Group as the registrant.
The domain goes to a parked page with results for colored contacts.
The term Fresh Look is trademarked by Novartis AG, which in the past year won UDRP’s on the domain names: wwwfreshlook.com, FreshLookz.com, and Freshlookcontact.net, Freshlook247.com, BuyFreshLook.com, freshlookcolorblends.net, FreshLookPainting.co, Myfreshlook.com.
Other pending UDRP on variations of Fresh Look include; freshlookme.com, freshlookforever.com, freshlookvision.com
We will let you know how it turns out but it looks like someone just lost $3,500.
lets hope Novartis AG is not as lucky this time around for this generic term
“Fresh Look” is a generic branding term used by hundreds, or thousands of companies for various uses.
The term existed far before the contacts did.
This is a classic example of a corporate bully who thinks they are entitled to a generic term for any use. Their TM protects a specific use, not every potential use.
The main reason they won a UDRP in the past was because the owner did not respond.
I think owning this domain is easily defensible in general, however the content on the parked page will be a major problem in this case.
Brad
Brian
Luck has nothing to do with it.
Being an educated domain holder does.
The domain is generic, but its also a TM
A TM which has been aggressively defended
So you have to be aware of what your doing
If you bid on this domain, (I bid on it as well) you have to be aware of the TM and the TM aggressive defense of the TM even The UDRP history of the domain
So if you win the auction you need to immediately take control of the domain, make sure especially in this case its not parked and certainly does NOT contain links to the TM holders product
do something with it, thought it would make a great name for a blog so put a blog up or a site up or something to why you bid on the domain in the 1st place
If you don’t, its not bad luck, its stupidity
I bought Scola.com fro $7K – a broadly used term all over – from Snap years ago – and a few weeks later a UDRP was filed and it was taken from me. I did not do anything on the website that conflicted with the TM – that means I was unlucky
Is this the guy? http://www.facebook.com/pepevaldezcerv7
@BrianWick, It is outrageous Verisign and GD decided whether to comply with the UDPR decision, fair or not. It is a classic example of the unfairness of UDPR. No matter what the decision, Verisign and certain large Registrars do whatever – it shows Verisign and GD pull the strings. Glad theDomains reported on this anomaly.
Good reporting lately, @MHB!!! 😀
the domain has changed hands from Jerry Fernandez (web1144@gmail.com) to Novartis today, after first changing the DNS 7 days ago to Novartis:
Administrative Contact:
Jerry Fernandez
Jerry Fernandez (email)
+1.5078501586
Fax: +1.5078501586
IPASA Building, 3rd Floor
Panama City, Bella Vista District 52001
PA
Status: Active
Name Servers:
dns1.novartis.com
dns2.novartis.com
Creation date: 27 Jan 2013 19:44:13
Expiration date: 27 Jan 2014 19:44:13
before it was with Jose Maria Valdez:
Registrant:
Jose Maria
Valdez (newtechholdingssa@gmail.com)
No. 253-National Army A
Piso 4
Colonia Anahuac
Mexico
Distrito Federal,CP 11320
MX
Tel. +52.5541692723
Status:RENEWAL HOLD
Creation Date: 12-Nov-1999
Expiration Date: 12-Nov-2012
Domain servers in listed order:
ns1.domainmanager.com
ns2.domainmanager.com
today it is with Novartis
Administrative Contact:
Domain Admin
MarkMonitor, Inc.
391 N. Ancestor Place
Boise ID 83704
US
novartis.domains@markmonitor.com
+1.2083895740 Fax: +1.2083895799
Novartis has filed and won 9 UDRP on domain including the phrase freshlook this year alone.