Florida IP Trends

This one is kind of funny.  The Orlando Predators, which is an Arena Football team, was recently sold.  Apparently the sale did not include the domain name “orlandopredators.com” because the Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the domain is now redirecting to…drumroll…:

Yep – the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s website for “predators.”  Well-played former owner, well-played.

See article HERE.

As the article states, an ICANN UDRP proceeding has been initiated.  I didn’t see it on WIPO’s or NAF’s websites this morning, but I wonder if the UDRP proceeding will even be successful.  If the sale contracts did not include the domain name, the only way that a UDRP proceeding would result in transferring the domain is if the UDRP Panel determines that the current owner registered AND used the domain in bad faith.  My guess is that the domain was registered prior to the sale for the purpose of promoting the Orlando Predators football team.  No bad faith there.  And, while it was used to promote the team, there’s probably no bad faith there, either.

So, will the act of redirecting the domain name to a website that really does contain information about Orland0-area predators be considered bad faith?  The UDRP is not designed to handle trademark infringement, just cybersquatting.  So, to the extent that the prior owner did not sell the domain and was not engaged in bad faith when he registered and used it, then the UDRP may be powerless, and this will become either a trademark infringement lawsuit or a contractual issue depending on the sale documents.  For now, redirecting to the FDLE Sexual Predators site seems like a safe move.  (Of course, there’s an argument that the redirection to a sexual predator site “dilutes” the Predators brand via tarnishment theories, but I doubt the Orlando Predators brand has attained the level of fame necessary for a federal dilution claim.  Maybe a state dilution claim though.)

This could be a very interesting proceeding, presuming it isn’t worked out between the parties.

For now, go to http://www.myorlandopredators.com for info on the football team (and not to create your own database of Orlando-area sexual predators).