American Council on Education (“ACE”) GED Testing Service LLC (“GEDTS”) which won a UDRP on the domain name GED.net back in February has now filed a UDRP on GED.org
The domain name GED.org is parked and pull a page full of links about the GED test and other links related to the GED test.
The domain appears to have been registered in 2008.
We will keep our eye on this one and let you know how it turns out
In the February decision on the GED.net, the panel found “that Respondent lacks any rights or legitimate interests in respect of the Domain Name.”
In its consideration of the above, the Panel has taken note of the existence of Google ads on the website at the Domain Name (Exhibit F to the Complaint) and the effect of a disclaimer in making the determination that Respondent lacks rights or legitimate in the Domain Name.”
The Panel also found bad faith :
“Much of Respondent’s argument on the issue of “bad faith” is based on the fact that there are numerous websites in existence which purport to offer GED materials and information, but which are unaffiliated with Complainant. That may be so, but it does not follow that Respondent is free to appropriate the GED mark as others may have done and violate Complainant’s rights under the Policy as the Panel has found here. On this record, it is impossible to know whether some of the other websites cited by Respondent are run with Complainant’s permission. It may well be, by contrast, that Complainant has more work to do to police its trademarks. In any event, the legitimacy of the operations behind these other websites is not at issue in this proceeding, and Respondent may not take refuge in an “everybody else is doing it” argument in this context.”
We will follow this one and let you know how it turns out.
is there more to this story or are you just leaving us hanging?