Many people will recongnize UFC® for the Ultimate Fighting Championship® which is a MMA (mixed martial arts) fighting series that has grown in popularity over the past couple of years. The UFC uses the domain name UFC.com and has also recently launched (likely purchased the domain) UltimateFighter.com in partnership with SPIKE TV which I covered back in March.
In that article I did mention the domain name TheUltimateFighter.com simply resolved to sports.yahoo.com/mma and since this was an odd forward to me, I figured the UFC didn’t own the domain name. The whois records show privacy protection. ElliotsBlog.com pointed out in early May that the UFC (Zuffa, LLC) had filed suit to obtain the domain name due to trademark violation.
That domain according to whois records still shows privacy protection today which tells me the domain has not been turned over yet but there is a generic hold put on the domain name via the domain registrar even though the domain is not even close to expiring. This tells me the courts likely have had this hold put in place to prevent a transfer / sale.
So what the heck is my point?
Zuffa, LLC likes to protect their trademarks so bidding / buying UFC.org at auction is a pretty big risk if you ask me!
On the flip side, Zuffa, LLC may have a fairly inexpensive chance at further protecting its brand in simply placing a bid during the auction. The current bid price at time of posting this is $110 USD.
If Zuffa doesn’t win the domain at auction (which I understand if they didn’t want to bid as this could show a hand this wish not to display), the sale of the domain can further help Zuffa in a legal suit to get the domain. They likely have in-house lawyers and I’m sure will gladly file suit on the UFC.org domain to prove a point.
For those that say… well UFC is just an acronym and can’t be owned by "one entity"…
The current parking page should clearly put the dagger into any theory by profiting off of a registered trademark that is similar and could be confusing to the mark by the ads currently displayed on the Sedo parking page for UFC.org .
Mike Sullivan
I agree that it’s a huge risk to take on. I can’t see anyone willing to take that on after seeing “TheUltimateFighter.com” issue that just took place. The risk/reward ratio just isn’t there. Not something I would be willing to ‘grapple’ with.
Jamie Zoch
@Mike,
Another thing to consider is the UFC.org owner may have received a C&D already and figured to “dump” the problem. Hard to say, but the potential is there.
Viper
Jaime, you harp on trademark issues WAAAYYYY too much.
ufc.org could be a fan-site – end of issue. Or, ufc could stand for “United Football Conference” or “Utah Football Contest”…do I need to keep going, or do you get it yet????
Heck, I’m even placing a bid on this domain right before the aution ends – I’ll pay up to $2K for this one:)
Jamie Zoch
@Viper,
I really do not write about TM stuff that often but I try my best with facts. Did you happen to see that screen shot? Even history of a domain is proven in the past to help a TM holder. Do you really need UFC.org to create a “fan site” for MMA? Feeding off of a brand is taking the easy way out IMO and the reason laws are in place.
~
I hope you win the auction. Bid like crazy but don’t say I didn’t warn you if you win.
Viper
You don’t write alot about trademark issues? Really?
http://www.bing.com/search?q=trademark+site%3Adotweekly.com&form=QBRE&qs=n&sk=&sc=8-18
Jamie Zoch
If you look at the 86 displayed on bing, they are not even all about trademarks… Even if they were, 86 out of the 1,400+ things I have written, it is a small percentage. Doing the same search you did but using DomainNameWire.com (169), TheDomains.com (150) which are similar blogs… again, I would say I do not write that much about trademarks.