Shoppers.com: UDRP Decision That Makes Sense

UDRP threats can wreak havoc on aftermarket buyers sleep patterns. When it comes to high priced generic auctions and sales it’s commonly thought that there’s no way anyong would drop a UDRP. But it happens. It happened to Xedoc Holdings after they layed out $166k for Shoppers.com in a Pool auction.

In what I hope becomes a common determining factor, the panel determined that the wide ranging generic nature of the domain name offsets the TM held by SuperValu Inc.:

Involved here is a common, descriptive word. It is not, in fact, associated by most people in the English-speaking world with the trademark of a regional US grocery chain. This domain name is worth $166,000 at auction precisely because it is a popular generic term with commercial connotations.

Will that discussion point mean that we might see higher bids on some names that investors might have shied away from previously? Time will tell.