Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Australia’s national broadcaster, lost the dispute at the World Intellectual Property Organization for the right to manage ABC.net. ABC’s complaint was reviewed by panelist Rober Badgley under the UDRP. As it turned out, the owner registered ABC.net in 1995. ABC (which uses abc.net.au for its website) did not mind about the domain name for a long time. But in the end, ABC is not only an abbreviation for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, but also the first three letters of the English alphabet, which are often used in the sense of “alphabet,” “christcross,” “common truth.” Thus, the domain name is a commonly used set of letters, and it is difficult to claim exclusive rights to it.
The owner of ABC.net unwittingly provoked the complaint. In 2017, he contacted ABC and reported that he received misdirected emails initially addressed to the broadcasting corporation. ABC found this situation wrong - and tried to take the domain away from its owner. But the attempt was unsuccessful. Panelist Rober Badgley did not see any malicious intent in registering ABC.net. Also, no evidence was provided that this domain name was used for illegal purposes. However, the panelist did not see the actions of ABC as an attempt to retake the domain name, according to Domain Name Wire. He concluded that the company lacked an understanding of all the nuances of the case, rather than tried to take the domain in bad faith.
