Blockbuster Inc. v Thompson [2005] DRS 02602 (28 June 2005)
Complainant: Blockbuster Inc.
Country: USA
Respondent: Jaden Thompson
Country: United Kingdom
<blockbuster.org.uk> (the "Domain Name")
Complainant
Territory | No. | Mark | Class |
EU | E190181 | BLOCKBUSTER | 09, 16, 28, 38, 41, 42 |
EU | E2045391 | BLOCKBUSTER | 09, 35, 38, 41 |
UK | 1224821 | BLOCKBUSTER | 16 |
UK | 1277126 | BLOCKBUSTER | 41 |
(a) Initial correspondence between the Complainant and Respondent in March 2004 in which the Respondent set out his business idea and in which the Complainant informed him that it does not consider unsolicited proposals and ideas.
(b) Correspondence that took place between January 2005 and April 2005 in which the Respondent accused the Complainant of "stealing" his idea and demanded various sums ranging from £20,000 to £100,000 from the Complainant. This correspondence included an email dated 6 April 2005 in which the Respondent threatened physical violence towards the Complainant's employees.
(c) Correspondence in April 2005 in which the Respondent revealed he has registered the Domain Name and threatened to operate a "tasteless porn site" unless payment was made to him. In one of these emails the Respondent also threatened to burn down the Complainant's offices.
(a) The Domain Name was primarily registered for the purpose of selling, renting or otherwise transferring it to the Complainant at a price greater than the Respondent's documented out of pocket expenses directly associated with acquiring the Domain Name;
(b) the Domain Name was primarily registered to unfairly disrupt the Complainant's business and to seriously harm the reputation of the Complainant;
(c) the Respondent has registered an incorrect address in order to conceal his identity; and
(d) the Respondent has registered "another famous domain name".
Respondent
(a) The Respondent does not appear to dispute that he either sent the correspondence or set up the website to which the Complainant refers in the Complaint.
(b) His explanation for the sending of emails that threaten the Complainant's staff and property is that he wanted "to provoke a response". In particular, he appears to believe that they will either result in him being charged by the police with criminal offences or being sued by the Complainant. In this way he believes he can expose the Complainant to unfavourable publicity.
(c) He denies that he has offered false address information.
(d) He denies that he improperly registered thedomain name.
(e) He appears to accept that he registered the Domain Name for the purpose of selling or renting it to the Complainant at a price greater than his out of pocket expenses. His response to that allegation is:
"Yes, you owe me money and one way or another I will get it".
(f) He appears to accept that he registered the Domain Name to unfairly disrupt the Complainant's business. His response to that allegation is:
"You haven't seen anything yet you thieves".
What needs to be proved
Abusive Registration means a Domain Name which either:
(i) was registered or otherwise acquired in a manner which, at the time when the registration or acquisition took place, took unfair advantage of or was unfairly detrimental to the complainant's rights: OR
(ii) has been used in a manner which took unfair advantage of or was unfairly detrimental to the complainant's rights:
Complainant's Rights
Abusive Registration
(a) Paragraph 3(a)(i) A: circumstances indicating that the Respondent registered or acquired the Domain Name:
"[primarily] for the purposes of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the Domain Name to the Complainant or to a competitor of the Complainant for valuable consideration in excess of the Respondent's documented out-of-pocket costs directly associated with acquiring or using the Domain Name":
(b) paragraph 3(a)(i) C: circumstances indicating that the Respondent registered or acquired the Domain Name:
"[primarily] for the purpose of unfairly disrupting the business of the Complainant;"
(c) paragraph 3(a)(iii):
"The Complainant can demonstrate that the Respondent is engaged in a pattern of registrations where the Respondent is the registrant of domain names (under .uk or otherwise) which correspond to well known names or trade marks in which the Respondent has no apparent rights, and the Domain Name is part of that pattern;"
(d) paragraph 3(a)(iv):
"It is independently verified that the Respondent has given false contact details to us:"
(a) An e-mail dated 9 April 2005 in which the Respondent demanded £5,000, rising to £50,000 after a specified period, for the idea of video delivery service plus the Domain Name by stating "you can pay me the sum of £5,000 and I will also throw in the blockbuster.org.uk site You have 48 hours from Monday morning of 11th April 2005 to accept this offer and not a minute longer. After that it is open season and the sum will be £50,000 and counting accumulating £10,000 each week"; and
(b) A further email dated 13 April 2005 in which the Respondent again demands £50,000 "for compensation of my idea and the domain name www.BlockBuster.org.uk".
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Matthew Harris
28 June 2005