RDNH or Reverse Domain Name Hijacking when the owner of a trademark tries to secure a domain name by claiming a “cybersquatting” case against the owner of the domain. This usually happens when the owner of the domain is a smaller firm or an individual.
Paragraph 15(e) of the UDRP Rules defines reverse domain name hijacking as the filing of a complaint in bad faith, resulting in the abuse of the UDRP administrative process. However the “bad faith” term is often misused.
The recent case of RDNH came from Gary Chupik, a Washington man, over the domain name EliteMindset.com. He wanted to buy the domain and after a failed negotiation over price registered the name as a trademark. He then filed a UDRP. A classic case of RDNH.
Well, ICANN can easily reject cases like this by asking a very simple question before considering claims. The question being, “Does your trademarking pre-dates the domain’s registration?”. As easy as that!
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