Today financial media company Dow Jones lost a domain case for the domain Marketwatch.net.
Dow Jones released the ever popular Marketwatch.com site in 1997, soon after marketwatch.net was registered by the respondant in the case. There was never a site made although it did play host to a news feed at some stage.
The panel did note that the domain could still be used in a way that infringes Dow Jones trademark. It just wouldn’t be a matter under UDRP:
Decisions under the Policy are directed to the issue of abusive domain name registration and use. They are not directed to issues of trademark or service mark infringement. Without prejudice to the legal character of Respondent’s future conduct, that the Panel decides Respondent did not register the disputed domain name in bad faith in 1997 does not provide instruction regarding whether Respondent may now or in the future infringe on a service mark owned by Complainant. These are distinct legal issues. It is possible to register a domain name in the absence of bad faith, yet subsequently infringe a third party trademark or service mark.
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