HomeAway, Inc. has just filed a UDRP on the domain name HolidayRentals.com.
As a domain it’s about as generic as you can get.
However HolidayRentals.com is not just a domain name, it’s a website ranked by Alexa as the 36,000 most visited website on the Internet.
The site boasts that they have over 60,000 properties listed in 80 countries.
Here is some more information about HolidayRentals.com from its site:
“”Founded in 2010 and based in Victoria Avenue London, UK, HolidayRentals.com continues to dominate the holiday rental marketplace by connecting visitors with property owners and managers, offering spectacular range of state of the art amenities, incredible comfort and excellent services.
With over 60,000 holiday rental properties, hundreds and thousands of guests book the best holiday homes via HolidayRentals.com in the hope of not only reaping some exciting offers and lucrative discounts, but to enjoy the freedom, space and comfort. The website also offers excellent deals, simple and cost effective method to list their property and has special discounts on festivals and other well known events.
In addition, Holiday Rentals allows people to discover, book and list unique properties from mobile phone around the world. The site is very user-friendly and easy to navigate. Whether you are on the lookout of an apartment for a week or a luxury villa for a night, Holiday Rentals gives you an advantage of booking the best properties direct with the home owners.
Customer satisfaction is the main motto of this popular website. It has a 24/7 online customer service that provides world class service.
Plan incredible Europe holidays with HolidayRentals.com and cherish it throughout your life!”””
HomeAway.com says it’s the “#1 source for vacation rentals” and doesn’t even use the word “holiday” on the front page of its site.
HomeAway.com is the 2K most visited site according to Alexa.com
There is a trademark for the term Holiday-Rentals granted in 2010 by a Vacation Villas International GmbH.
We will let you know this turns out.
a reminder how much we can turn generic terms into thriving businesses – and in doing so threaten the bullies
Stupid ass lawyers. They should know that even if they win, they will end up in a real court.
Which would suite them fine after all, it means they continue to get paid.
As the saying goes, when it comes to court cases, the only real winners are the lawyers
As far as I can see Vacation Villas International GmbH owns word marks for ‘holiday-rentals’ in both US and Europe markets, ‘holidayrentals’ in Europe, and a figurative mark in Europe for ‘holiday-rentals.co.uk’.
But wait, there’s more:
“HomeAway Deutschland GmbH was formerly known as Vacation Villas International GmbH. The company was founded in 1997 and is based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. As per the transaction announced on December 6, 2006, HomeAway Deutschland GmbH operates as a subsidiary of HomeAway, Inc.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=25056805
Wow, this is going to get brutal.
I don’t want to get too smarty pants here but shouldn’t the UDRP be filed against the domain with the dash technically speaking, holiday-rentals.com based on the dash in the TM 😉 Anyway nice to know legalized theft is alive and well in our industry still.
Solution is simple, since there is currently little to minimal financial downside on filing a UDRP you create a downside, say a penalty payment of $50,000 if a three member panel all find you guilty of reverse hijacking, sounds fair to me, people might even think twice with a more fair risk to reward ratio in the system.