Family Ties
May 17, 2013
By slevy
Apparently blood may not be thicker than water. The estate of the late Malcolm McLaren was recently unsuccessful in recovering the domain name malcolmmclaren.com from a cousin of one of Mr. McLaren’s former girlfriends through UDRP action filed with the National Arbitration Forum (NAF).
In his decision, the Panelist noted that the issues raised in the case, specifically a business/contractual dispute, are outside the scope of the UDRP, and did not appear to constitute a case of cybersquatting. The panelist cited Love v. Barnett, FA 944826 (NAF May 14, 2007), in which the case was dismissed because the dispute “appears to hinge mostly on a business or civil dispute between the parties.” Several other prior case examples were cited, but the message is clear: the UDRP is not a family counselor.
Cases such as this highlight anew the need to be strategic and selective in filing UDRPs where clear cybersquatting exists. Although you can’t pick your family members, try to make good decisions when it comes to girlfriends and UDRP filings.
