Moon Juice Ventures, LLC v. Satoshi Shimoshita: A Case of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking

In the WIPO domain name dispute case D2016-1024, Moon Juice Ventures, LLC, a business based in Los Angeles, filed a complaint against Satoshi Shimoshita of Tokyo over the domain name “moonjuice.com”. Moon Juice Ventures claimed rights to the “MOON JUICE” trademark and alleged that Shimoshita had no legitimate interests in the domain name, accusing him of bad faith registration and use.

However, the domain name had been registered in 1998, long before Moon Juice Ventures began its operations and registered its trademark in 2012. Shimoshita asserted that he was unaware of Moon Juice Ventures at the time of registration and had plans to use the domain name for a future business.

The WIPO panel found that Shimoshita did not register or use the domain name in bad faith. It was determined that Moon Juice Ventures filed the complaint to obtain the domain name despite Shimoshita’s legitimate registration. Consequently, the complaint was denied, and Moon Juice Ventures was found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking.

For more detailed information, you can refer to the WIPO’s official case details here.

In the WIPO domain name dispute case D2016-1024, Moon Juice Ventures, LLC, a business based in Los Angeles, filed a complaint against Satoshi Shimoshita of Tokyo over the domain name “moonjuice.com”. Moon Juice Ventures claimed rights to the “MOON JUICE” trademark and alleged that Shimoshita had no legitimate interests in the domain name, accusing him…