The World Intellectual Property Organization has examined a UDRP case against SheThePeople.org (UDRP stands for Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy). The case is quite unusual, because in most UDRP disputes, it is quite easy to see who is right or wrong (even if the verdict does not always look just). There is either a company that trademarked its brands and a registrant who is violating this trademark or a registrant using a domain in good faith and a certain company that wants to take the name away, making the registrant’s activities look illegal (reverse domain name hijacking).
However, in this case both sides are quite admirable. The Indian broadcasting company that filed the complaint, SheThePeople.TV, was established in 2015 to shoot documentaries about women who became role models fighting for equal rights in the very conservative society of India. Its founder, Shaili Chopra, has won many national and international awards for journalists and right activists.
The complaint was filed against an American organization empowering women of color, She the People. It registered the domain SheThePeople.org in November 2016, after the Indian company trademarked its brand, according to the Domain Gang. However, the organization’s activities cannot be called unlawful or prejudicial to the interests of Indian journalists. WIPO Arbitrator Luca Barbero took this into consideration when she decided to deny the complaint and leave the rights to manage the domain SheThePeople.org to the American human rights defenders.
