RDNH Case D2015-1014

The domain name dispute case D2015-1014 involved the complainant iPayment, Inc. and the respondent Kwangpyo Kim, Mediablue Inc. The dispute centered around the domain name “ipayments.com”. iPayment, Inc., a company providing credit-card and debit-card payment processing services, claimed that the domain name was confusingly similar to their IPAYMENT trademark and was registered and used in bad faith. The domain name was originally created in 1997 and had been owned by iPayment, Inc., but was not renewed and was acquired by the respondent at an auction in 2015.

The respondent argued that they had a legitimate interest in the domain name, which was part of a business strategy to acquire common word domain names. The respondent, being a resident of the Republic of Korea, claimed to have no knowledge of iPayment or its trademark. The domain name was used for pay-per-click advertising, which the respondent stated was not selected with the intent to profit from iPayment’s trademark.

The WIPO Panel found that while the domain name was confusingly similar to iPayment’s trademark, the respondent had legitimate interests in the domain name, especially considering it was acquired at an auction after iPayment failed to renew it. The panel concluded that the complaint was brought in bad faith and constituted an abuse of the administrative proceeding, leading to a finding of reverse domain name hijacking against iPayment, Inc. This decision underscores the importance of full disclosure and fair representation in domain name disputes.

The domain name dispute case D2015-1014 involved the complainant iPayment, Inc. and the respondent Kwangpyo Kim, Mediablue Inc. The dispute centered around the domain name “ipayments.com”. iPayment, Inc., a company providing credit-card and debit-card payment processing services, claimed that the domain name was confusingly similar to their IPAYMENT trademark and was registered and used in…