The UDRP arbitration case brought by German engineering company Gabler Maschinenbau GmbH against the domain name Gabler.com has been dismissed by the Czech Arbitration Court (adr.eu). The domain owner, US investor Stanley Pace (represented by lawyer John Berryhill), won the case.
The core dispute revolved around trademark rights and the legality of the domain name. The complainant claimed trademark rights to “GABLER” (EU Trademark No. 018213448) but failed to provide sufficient evidence of registration. The panel, through an independent investigation, confirmed the validity of the trademark and determined that Gabler.com constituted an identical trademark, thus satisfying the first element of the UDRP.
The key turning point lies in the timing of the domain registration and its nature of use: Gabler.com was registered in 1998 and acquired by Pace through auction in 2016, while the complainant’s EU trademark application was filed in 2020 and registered in 2021, both later than the domain acquisition. Furthermore, “Gabler” was confirmed to be a common surname, and the panel acknowledged Pace’s legitimate investment in surname domains, finding no evidence that Pace knew about or targeted the German company at the time of acquisition. The panel reiterated that under the UDRP framework, the resale of dictionary terms and surname domains can constitute a bona fide interest.
In his concurring opinion, panel member Igor Motzny pointed out that this complaint was a weak “Plan B” case, ignoring clear UDRP precedents and should be considered reverse domain hijacking. The final ruling dismissed the complaint, and the domain was not transferred.
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