Towing firm’s domain claim gets impounded by UDRP panel

Tow truck company inadvertently let domain name expire in 2021.

I’ve written about lots of reverse domain name hijacking cases this week, and more are to come.

A UDRP panelist has found S & S Towing Inc. to have tried reverse hijacking the domain name sstowing.com.

The company previously owned the domain name, but it expired in 2021 due to outdated payment information.

That’s when SyncPoint, Inc., a domain investment company that vigorously defends its domain names, acquired the domain.

SyncPoint pointed out that many companies use the letters SS combined with towing. It also noted the long time between when the Complainant let the domain expire and when it filed the cyberquatting claim.

Panelist Alan L. Limbury found in favor of SyncPoint on all three elements of the UDRP.

In finding reverse domain name hijacking, Limbury noted that the Complainant’s counsel filed a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office the day before filing the dispute.

The Complainant would have needed to make a compelling case that it had common law rights in the mark. Limbury wrote:

The Complaint does not claim that the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark in which Complainant has rights. Rather, the Complaint claims: “The domain name is identical or confusingly similar to Complainant’s business name”.

Stark Law LLC represented the Complainant. The Respondent appears to have been self-represented.