Cambridge University files UDRP on Cambridge.com

scottmccloud · Jul 26, 2015

Bit of an odd one this, can't see them winning.

"UDRP Filed on The 25 Year Old Domain Name Cambridge.com By University of Cambridge"

http://www.thedomains.com/2015/07/2...ame-cambridge-com-by-university-of-cambridge/

gimpydog · Jul 26, 2015

The "For Sale" page probably won't help their cause.

The University has a pretty good track record, so far.

Adam H · Jul 26, 2015

Strange indeed, as the university isnt a representation of the entire City. I cant see why they would even think they have the right to the place name.

gimpydog · Jul 26, 2015

AdamH said:
... I cant see why they would even think they have the right to the place name.

Perhaps because they have a long-standing trademark, which includes class 41 for

"Provision of training, teaching, examination and assesment services including computer assisted and computer mediated services and on-line services, and the provision of distance learning programmes."

for the mark "Cambridge" & the respondent appears to be advertising services in the same class?

If the University's case is well researched & well made, I can see them winning this one. Given the site's content, the respondent isn't going to be able to claim he has never heard of them, is he?

Adam H · Jul 26, 2015

gimpydog said:
Perhaps because they have a long-standing trademark, which includes class 41 for

"Provision of training, teaching, examination and assesment services including computer assisted and computer mediated services and on-line services, and the provision of distance learning programmes."

for the mark "Cambridge" & the respondent appears to be advertising services in the same class?

If the University's case is well researched & well made, I can see them winning this one. Given the site's content, the respondent isn't going to be able to claim he has never heard of them, is he?

Wow they've certainly covered as many bases as possible lol

Admin · Jul 26, 2015

I wonder why the current user puts "education" in the Website title, doesn't seem to be relevant to the site content so maybe that's what caught their attention.

Admin

Adam H · Jul 26, 2015

I wouldnt mind betting that Gimpy was correct that the sales page hasnt helped, it wouldnt surprise me if the owners contacted the University to maybe solicit a sale........maybe alerting them of the possibility.

Murray · Jul 26, 2015

The "education and e-learning" at the top, you could think they're the university suggesting online courses; I could see it confusing people.

BeachLife · Jul 27, 2015

There are adverts for e-learning, plus adverts for other universities, all against the backdrop of photos of Cambridge University. That suggests the Uni has a good chance to me, if researched and presented well.

BeachLife · Jul 27, 2015

Looking again they also list many online universities, not based in Cambridge (the city). If this is a geo then why would they publish such information, unless their intention is to capitalise upon Cambridge University's reputation?

Murray · Jul 27, 2015

invincible said:
There's quite a lot of discussion about this udrp over on thedomains.com blog including a large dash of emotionally driven, devoid of any facts, comments along the lines of "how dare they file this".

They seem to be focusing totally on the domain name itself without looking what is actually on it.

gimpydog · Jul 27, 2015

invincible said:
There's quite a lot of discussion about this udrp over on thedomains.com blog including a large dash of emotionally driven, devoid of any facts, comments along the lines of "how dare they file this".

That's just the default position of faux-outrage from the domainers' union.

I'm guessing that the bloke started with a typical low-risk, low-reward geo travel guide type site, found that the type-in traffic didn't want to book a hotel room, so he expanded the site content to something more in line with what the visitors were looking for.

Why on Earth he recently added the "for sale" page & whether there were any negotiations with the Uni., we shall have to wait & see.

namealot · Jul 27, 2015

Cheaper than buying it? So maybe for them worth the punt didn’t think they’ve had that many UDRP ?
http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/...mm=07&end_date_yyyy=2015&lang_code=EN&rows=20

I’d suspect there objections will go along the same lines oxford-online albeit many moons ago.
http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2001/d2001-0975.html harder for a singular generic geo but about there only go at it I would have thought?

udrp is law onto itself so maybe there hoping the panel will consist of old oxford graduates :lol:

philiporchard · Jul 27, 2015

Come on Ed...

Surely you have some thoughts on this

Adam H · Jul 27, 2015

philiporchard said:
Come on Ed...

Surely you have some thoughts on this

Im glad im not the only one who was hoping to see Edwins views lol

Edwin · Jul 27, 2015

Not really, no.

bensd · Jul 27, 2015

Edwin said:
Not really, no.

I'm sure you do

Appreciate you might not want to air them on a public forum though!

Edwin · Jul 27, 2015

Spot on.

jasman · Jul 27, 2015

Just goes to show you can register and use a domain quite legitimately without problems for many years, but if you later put up some content that gets a bit too close for comfort to a TM holder, the position changes and they might have enough to challenge you and seize a valuable asset. Best to make sure the website content is focused on its main topic so there can be no accusations of confusion.

sdsinc · Jul 27, 2015

This UDRP doesn't surprise me at all.
The university has a good track record, so I am surprised they are only acting now.
I would say that the heavy focus on education and online courses on cambridge.com doesn't exactly help.

For some reason, it reminds me of the epic case of octopus.com.
Sometimes people make life unnecessarily difficult.