A one member UDRP panel has awarded a domain name purchased in 2010, TheLightBlubStore.com, to Lumen Inc. based off a trademark filed in 2011, after the owner wanted to “reselling it for an outrageous profit. Specifically, Respondent offered to sell the disputed domain name for $18,000.00.”
Hon. Carolyn Marks Johnson was the Panelist who found the Complainant had a common law trademark right even though the Complainant did not make that argument or even a statement that they had a common law trademark right.
Complainant owns THE LIGHTBULB STORE mark through registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) (Reg. No. 4,189,954, registered August 14, 2012, filed Dec. 15, 2011).
Full Article: http://www.thedomains.com/2015/03/1...s-away-domain-registered-before-tm-was-filed/Although Respondent’s purchase date of September 27, 2010, predates Complainant’s earliest demonstrated legal rights in the THE LIGHTBULB STORE mark, namely the December 15, 2011, filing date with the USPTO, the Panel found that Complainant’s rights in the mark dated back to the date represented to the federal government in the filing process as 2009, a date that is earlier in time than Respondent’s purchase of the disputed domain name and that therefore a finding of bad faith is not precluded.