The National Arbitration Forum ruled on a UDPR concerning LiveVideo.com, filed by Livevideo.com Inc., and the very name of this company clearly indicates that it has reason to claim the domain. Actually, it owned the domain for a long time. The domain housed a hosting service for videos created by both visitors and the Livevideo.com team. Between 2007 and 2011, according to the company itself, the site was visited by over 150 million unique users, and at some point, it even became a serious competitor to YouTube.
But then a mysterious plot twist happened. In 2018, the company ceased to be the registrant of LiveVideo.com. No details are disclosed in the UDPR; it only says that “the domain name inadvertently fell out of the company’s control.” The new domain owners posted on their landing page that they are based in Silicon Valley and are pioneers in the entertainment video industry. At the same time, they expressed their readiness to sell the domain to the previous owners for $500,000.
While it cannot be stated for sure, and the UDRP itself is not a tool for criminal investigations, many analysts note that Livevideo.com Inc.’s account at GoDaddy was likely hijacked by cybercriminals, who stole the right to control the domain. Whether they are associated with the new owners of LiveVideo.com is unclear, but what is clear is that these owners are economical with the truth. They do not offer video hosting and are based not in Silicon Valley, but in the Philippines. Surely panelist Aaron B. Newell took this into account, along with other circumstances in favor of the complainant. As a result, he decided to uphold the complaint and transfer the rights to manage the domain to Livevideo.com Inc., according to Domain Gang.
