MELBOURNE — An arbitrator last week, ruling in a cybersquatting case, has ordered the domain name xHamster9.com transferred to the company that operates adult tube site xHamster.com.
On appearance, xHamster9.com, operated by Andrei Ivanov of Russia, is a knockoff of the famous tube site brand that relies on traffic for revenue.
In its complaint, Hammy Media Ltd. of Massachusetts said that it is the actual owner of the xHamster mark, registering it in November 2015 in Benelux. It also contended that it has used the domain name since 2007 and, thus, is protected by common law rights.
“xHamster9 domain name is confusingly similar to the xHamster mark because it merely adds the number ‘9’ and the ‘.com’ generic top-level domain to the full mark,” Hammy Media’s complaint said.
Ivanov “has no rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name,” Hammy Media claimed.
Ivanov, who started up operation of xHamster9.com in November 2014, did not respond to Hammy Media’s claims in the case.
Two years ago, Ivanov lost a similar UDRP case over the XVideos.nu domain name, which was ordered transferred to XVideos at the time. He did not contest that case, either.
In the end, panelist Neil Anthony Brown said that the domain name was registered in bad faith and ordered the domain transferred to Hammy Media.