Too Hot: Hotcam.com Domain Case was Reverse Domain Name Hijacking

Case is too hot for arbitration.

Video equipment company HotCam, Ltd. has been found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking in an arbitration case over the domain name Hotcam.com.

HotCam, Ltd. filed the case with National Arbitration Forum, citing the company’s Great Britain trademark as grounds for transfer. The company filed for the trademark in 2000 and claimed to have been founded in London in 1998, but didn’t provide a specific date or any proof of its founding date. The respondent, RNIS Telecommunication Inc., registered the domain in April 1998.

Even after RNIS pointed out this deficiency in its response, HotCam Ltd. pushed on and tried to change the topic. In finding reverse domain name hijacking, the arbitrator wrote:

Complainant knew or should have known, based upon the facts known to it when it filed the Complaint in this proceeding, that it could not prove bad faith registration. Upon being called on this point in the Response, Complainant shifted to an alternative and obviously unsound argument for bad faith, one that it knew (or should have known) could not prevail. The Panel considers these circumstances sufficient to support a finding that the Complaint was brought in bad faith, in an attempt at reverse domain name hijacking.

HotCam, Ltd. was represented by Arthur R. Lehman, L.L.C.

source DomainNameWire.com

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