Last week the decision was released for a UDRP case which was filed by Besloten Vennootschap IVX Networks Europe B.V in an attempt to secure the domain ivx.com from the current Registrant. The company, who already owns ivx.eu is a large Brand Management Firm that specialises in international domain registration and brand protection.

During the case, the current owner explained that he had acquired the domain back in 2005 for a business venture unconnected to the complainant's business, and provided evidence of the proposed use. It became clear to the UDRP panel that the Registrant was not using the domain in bad faith, and that IVX were not being targeted when the domain was registered, and following the panel’s findings the complaint was denied. It was noted in the decision write up that preceding the UDRP being filed IVX also offered the Registrant $13,000 for the domain but the Registrant declined, saying they wanted $15,000 to hand over the domain.

Following the verdict being made public on the 14th of June by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) IVX tweeted that they plan to sue over the verdict and try to secure the domain that way.

IVX have made comment on the WIPO decision and their choice to sue by saying that in 2007 they had an agreement with the Registrant to purchase the domain for $5,500 which although was made “official”, never went ahead as the Registrant revised the asking price to $11,000 as additional interest in the domain was received.

They also contest the fact that the latest price of $13,000 was a concrete offer, and the CEO from IVX is quoted as saying:

“…we DID NOT agree into 13.000 USD. We were just seeing how far they wanted to go with their asking price, because our last negotiation e-mail was from 2009. So we do know what we are doing when it comes to brand name management.”

IVX are currently in discussion to ascertain how best to proceed in order to get their hands on the domain. They have also put in another bid to acquire the name. Chances are, simply buying it from the current Registrant will be a lot cheaper than filing an entirely separate lawsuit in order to sue, and they could have saved the funds from the UDRP if they had just agreed on $15,000 in the first instance!

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