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As
I told you in March,
a little-known Brazilian company that
does business from SaveMe.com.br,
represented by Márcio Mello Chaves,
made a blatant attempt to use the UDRP
system to steal the generic
domain SaveMe.com that happened
to be owned by legendary domain investor
(and T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conference co-founder) Rick
Schwartz. Even though
the Brazilian business only got started
in 2010, they wanted the panel to
force Schwartz to give them, at no cost,
a domain that he had registered in 1996,
14 years before the gang that couldn't
shoot straight even existed!
Of
course, right away those who know the
pugnacious Schwartz knew Chaves and
company had made a remarkably stupid
miscalculation. Since they had no
case, they were apparently counting on a
cowed respondent to roll over and play
dead - oops wrong number Márcio!
Schwartz immediately went after Chaves
in a very public
manner. At the same time he
had his long time partner Howard
Neu, a premier domain
industry attorney, craft a detailed
response to Chaves's UDRP filing.
The
decision
from the three-judge panel just came
down and it was a slam dunk for
Schwartz and Neu. Not only did the panel
rule in their favor they took it a rare
step further and declared the
Brazilians guilty of a reverse domain
name hijacking attempt. Though there
are, unfortunately, no financial or
criminal penalties for that, it is a
stigma they will carry from now
on and it will make it much more
difficult for them to ever wrest a
domain away from anyone else. Most
importantly it serves as a major
warning sign to other unscrupulous
or over reaching "trademark"
interests who may be tempted to try
stealing domains they have no right to
own.
Naturally,
Schwartz was euphoric when he
announced the news (Neu
posted his
take on the decision as
well). Both men are being heartily
congratulated by appreciative
commentators on their blogs, as they
certainly
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Rick
Schwartz
SaveMe.com owner
Attorney
Howard Neu
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