Prolific UDRP filer stretches too far in recent case.

A World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) panelist has found (pdf) Navasard Limited to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking.

Navasard Limited operates online gambling websites under the moniker 1XBET.

It filed a cybersquatting complaint against 1xperience.com, a domain name used by a company that provides VIP travel and experience packages.

WIPO panelist Ian Lowe determined that Navasard failed to make even a prima facie case that the domain owner lacks any rights or legitimate interests in the domain name. Navasard didn’t even mention that the domain resolved to an active website.

It’s also noteworthy that the domain owner is in the U.S., where the Complainant’s websites are inaccessible.

In finding reverse domain name hijacking, Lowe wrote:

The Panel recognizes that the Complainant is unrepresented, but it is an online gambling business that is bound to have careful regard to Internet related procedural and regulatory issues. The Panel also notes that it has been filing a substantial number of UDRP complaints and is therefore familiar with the procedure. The Complaint is sparse and inexplicably makes no reference to the website that has been operated by the Respondent for at least six years, on the face of it at least offering bona fide services. Furthermore, when notified of the identity of the Respondent in the United States it made no attempt substantively to amend the Complaint or to address issues around the non-availability of the Complainant’s online betting services in the United States.

Indeed, Navasard has filed more than 30 UDRP complaints in the past year, and this is its first loss. It might be a case of the company being a bit too formulaic and aggressive in its filings.