The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) examined a complaint filed under the Unified Domain Dispute Resolution Policy (UDPR) by the Israeli company Cyarx Technologies Ltd. This company launched the cybersecurity startup Siemplify. It uses the domain Siemplify.co, but the company executives were eager to get Siemplify.com, too.
However, back in 2011, the domain was registered by investor Taylor Robinson. The word siemplify does not exist, and the domain name is a pun of sorts, derived from “simplify” and the abbreviation SIEM (Security Information and Event Management), which means a set of methods for analyzing system security information. According to Domain Name Wire, Robinson thought that such a domain could be in demand among cybersecurity companies, and, having parked it, he hoped to sell it in the future.
In fact, he was right. Siemplify contacted Taylor Robinson and tried to acquire the domain. But the parties could not agree on a price. Interestingly, Siemplify managed to raise $58 million in funding, but the company still decided to save money and file for the right to run the domain through UDRP. However, it doesn’t seem like the company’s lawyers took into account one fact: the Siemplify trademark was registered only in 2017, that is, six years later than the domain name. To say that the illegal use of the domain violated the legitimate interests of the trademark holder in this situation is simply ridiculous. WIPO panelist Flip Jean Claude Petillon shared this view: he ruled that Taylor Robinson retained the right to manage the domain, and Cyarx Technologies Ltd was found guilty of attempted reverse domain name hijacking.
