General Electric (GE) has lost a domain name dispute under UDRP for the domain GEEntertainment.com.
This is an interesting case for two reasons:
1. The complainant provided too much information to the panel, giving the keys to the panel to find in the respondent’s favor despite receiving no reply from the respondent.
2. It appears the panelist did some of his own research to supplement his findings.
GEEntertainment.com is registered to an Atlanta company that represents musicians, specifically rappers. In its complaint, GE submitted printed out pages of the web site along with the respondent company’s registration for G.E. Entertainment, LLC. Normally a respondent provides such registration showing a legitimate interest in a domain name. But in this case, the respondent didn’t reply to the accusations. So GE actually helped out the domain owner.
With regards to the panelist, he makes certain statements that indicate he did supplemental research for the case. For example, he wrote:
It is true that the Complainant currently owns a major entertainment group, but from the record in this proceeding it appears that the Complainant’s entertainment products and services are marketed under the NBC and Universal names and a variety of marks associated with particular broadcasting and cable channels, websites, and production studios. The Complainant’s most recent annual report lists 23 “brands” used in its “Media and Entertainment” business. Not one of them includes the letters “GE”.
I suppose it’s possible that GE included a copy of its annual report in its complaint. But regardless, the way the rest of the decision is written, it’s clear that this panelist went above and beyond what his peers do in the case of no response from the respondent in a UDRP.
