RDNH Case D2020-2408

In the WIPO case D2020-2408, the dispute involved the domain name “shopinext.com” between Next Retail Limited (UK) and Önder Çelik (Turkey). Next Retail Limited claimed that the domain name was confusingly similar to their trademark “NEXT” and that Çelik had no legitimate interests in it, asserting it was registered in bad faith. However, Çelik, founder of SHOPINEXT ELEKTRONİK TİCARET VE BİLİŞİM HİZMETLERİ ANONİM ŞİRKETİ, argued that “shopinext” combined generic terms “shop” and “next” to suggest an innovative way of shopping and conducting e-commerce activities, unrelated to Next Retail Limited.

The WIPO panel found the domain name was confusingly similar to the “NEXT” trademark but ruled that Çelik had rights and legitimate interests in “shopinext” due to his bona fide offering of e-commerce services under this name. The panel concluded that there was no evidence of bad faith registration or use by Çelik. The complaint by Next Retail Limited was therefore denied, but the panel did not find this case appropriate for a finding of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking.

In the WIPO case D2020-2408, the dispute involved the domain name “shopinext.com” between Next Retail Limited (UK) and Önder Çelik (Turkey). Next Retail Limited claimed that the domain name was confusingly similar to their trademark “NEXT” and that Çelik had no legitimate interests in it, asserting it was registered in bad faith. However, Çelik, founder…