RDNH wakefit.com case

[paisa]

Apparently, this company is setup near my home...,



Indian mattress seller Wakefit Innovations tried to reverse hijack the domains wakefit.com and wake.fit, a World Intellectual Property Organization panelist has ruled. Wakefit Innovations, was incorporated in 2016. Wakefit.com was registered in 2009 and put to use for a business selling an exercise device.

Wakefit Innovations operates on wakefit.co
Wakefit Innovations had sales of $120 million in 2023-2024.

Domain was registered prior to the Complainant’s existence. Wakefit Innovations made other mistakes that led to the reverse domain name hijacking decision. Wadhwa Law Chambers represented Wakefit Innovations, and the Respondent was self-represented.

Complainant first broached subject, writing to the domain owner:

Hi Wakefit team. High-five on the awesome name both of us chose for our businesses! We are a memory-foam product-based company operating out of Bangalore, India specializing in mattresses and pillows looking to expand globally. To achieve that we believe a wakefit.com domain is essential and thus we wanted to have a conversation round it. Please let us know if you’d be interested and would be available to talk sometime next week. Thanks Wakefit Team

As quoted on DNW: Panelist Nick Gardner was further peeved that Wakefit Innovations presented the Respondent’s business and its website as being pretextual when it was clearly an operating business. He also noted that there is no evidence at all to support the allegation that the Respondent was engaged in a “pattern of cybersquatting activities.”

The highest offer for the domain was $3,000, while the Respondent apparently asked for $150,000.