What are the costs of domain name disputes?
Ari: --you gotta fight, you gotta fight when it’s right. At the same time, there are a lot of times when there’s a domain name dispute where it’s not worth fighting, and you always have to evaluate the cost of a domain name dispute, the cost of loosing, the cost of--just the cost of a negative decision. A negative decision out there can be used against you in other cases. I know, Monte, that’s something that you’re very concerned about for your clients.
Monte: Yeah, I mean actually I recommend to my clients that if they have any kind of feelings towards the domain name whatsoever, it’s--and they get a complaint, is to contact an attorney, like yourself, you know, contact Ari or contact a John Berryhill, contact these guys, and Howard Neu, and because what it does is not only sets a precedence for you, but it sets a precedence for all your other domain buddies. You know, because they can use these cases against you and against--and the more that you lose, the more ammo it is for other decisions to be made, especially if you don’t show up to the game.
Ari: Right, absolutely. And--
Monte: And there are also ways to bow out and get out, even when the case is being responded to, even sometimes with the company that’s filing the dispute against you getting--paying you a little bit of money for it.
Ari: Right, it happens, it happens. With [inaudible], for example, if a case is settled, the complainant gets a $1,000 refund, so the complainant’s always very happy to settle that sort of a case, and maybe some of that $1,000 can be shared with a respondent.
Monte: Right, right. So, you know, there’s a lot of--you know, I try to tell everybody and educate them at least on our customer side and everywhere that we participate in forums, and especially on this radio show, when we cover this issue, that it’s not good to just not answer the case, because it always, you know, most always--matter of fact, I’ve never heard of a case that’s actually gone in favor of the domain holder, if they’ve never responded.
Ari: There are a couple.
Monte: Yeah, but, I mean, I’m sure there is a couple.
Ari: There was one, I know of at least one. I know there’s a couple. StMoritz.com, the original StMoritz.com decision went in favor of the domain owner, even though no response was filed.
Monte: Really?
Ari: [Inaudible]--
Monte: And what was the basis on that?
Ari: Why did they win?
Monte: Yeah, why did they win --
Ari: Because--
Monte: --without a response?
Ari: --well it’s a common word, the panelist was nice enough to go take a look at the website and saw that there was a website up that’s about StMoritz.com.
Monte: Oh.
Ari: The amazing thing was that the complainant filed another UDRP complaint two years later, saying facts--the facts had changed, it was a different owner, when in fact it was really the same owner, but they kind of operated under a different name. And I actually represented the owner in the second StMoritz.com case, and we won that case, as well.
Monte: Oh, wow, that’s great.
Ari: Yeah.
Monte: That’s great. Well, I guess my point is, is that it rarely happens.
Ari: It does, absolutely. It’s rarely. When--if you do not file a response, the panel is entitled to accept all of the complainant’s allegations as true.
Monte: Right, right.
Ari: And I, you know, it’s the rare instance.
Monte: It’s like you’re not showing up for your trial, you know, in case you’re on trial for something, you can’t even argue in your favor and, you know, you definitely have a number of hurdles and a number of things against you if you don’t show.
Ari: That’s right. It’s the rare occasion where you get a nice panelist that will actually, you know, look into the facts if there’s not a response. And, yeah, it’s very dangerous not to respond.
Monte: Right.
Ari: Don’t just throw these things in the trash; deal with them as early as possible.
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