Frank Schilling, with help of John Berryhill, successfully defend domain name.
Frank Schilling’s Name Administration has won an arbitration case brought by a trampoline company. Domain name attorney John Berryhill represented Schilling.
NAOP, LLC, which apparently manufactures trampolines under the JUMPRO brand, filed for arbitration. I can find little information about the company, and jumpro.com is in use by a company unrelated to the trampoline manufacturer.
The panel decided that the NAOP did not prove it had rights in the mark at the time the domain name was registered. It further said that there was no evidence of bad faith since Schilling could not have known about the trademark when he registered the domain. The trademark was not approved until 2006, a couple years after the domain was registered.
Berryhill requested a finding of reverse domain name hijacking, but the panel declined and explained, “Given the virtual identity between the JUMPRO mark and the domain name, the Panel accepts that Complainant honestly believed its rights were being infringed.”
Schilling is known for owning a large portfolio of non-infringing generic domain names. This is the fourth UDRP at National Arbitration Forum that Name Administration has one this year. Previous wins include Timpano.com, xoft.com, and FoodEmporium.com.
