The US National Arbitration Forum has ruled in a case filed by Morgan Stanely. Considered one of the richest and most powerful companies in the world, this global financial conglomerate has filed a Uniform Domain Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) complaint against the msfinancements.com. The abbreviation MS is often used to refer to Morgan Stanely, and the French word financements means, of course, "finance." This already indicated a serious chance of winning.
In addition, the plaintiff was represented by the highly respected law firm of Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, P.C. And, finally, the domain registrant did not even bother to respond to the notice of the commencement of proceedings. Given all these circumstances, it becomes obvious that the registrant simply did not have a chance to keep the domain for himself.
But that's exactly what occurred. Moreover, the solution cannot even be called paradoxical. Arbitrator Nicholas J. T. Smith took the trouble to delve into the details of the case, ignoring the influence of the plaintiff and his representatives and the rather strange behavior of the defendant. And he came to the conclusion that the situation is not at all unambiguous. The msfinancements.com hosts a completely legitimate website dedicated to the provision of financial services. It is run by two financial advisors and traders Medji Bamba and Sarah Pascual. Thus, the abbreviation MS is formed from the first letters of the names of business owners, and the word financements indicates the scope of their activities.
In addition, although the abbreviation MS is used to refer to Morgan Stanely, the company does not own the corresponding trademark. And, finally, the plaintiff also could not provide any evidence that the domain was registered or used to the detriment of the interests of Morgan Stanely.
As a result, the arbitrator left the complaint unsatisfied, according to the Domain Name Wire. Nicholas J. T. Smith specifically noted that the UDRP procedure serves to deal with cases of cybersquatting. In this case, no evidence of cybersquatting was provided. If Morgan Stanely is sure that there is an infringement on its intellectual property, then this issue should be addressed to the courts.
