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RapidShare files UDRP claim on Rapid.org

Kevin Murphy, July 7, 2010, 11:10:07 (UTC), Domain Policy

RapidShare, confidence bolstered by a number of recent UDRP wins against domains that contain its trademark, has now turned its attention to some more dubious challenges.
The German file-sharing service has lately filed UDRP claims on the domains rapid4me.com, rapidownload.net, rapidpiracy.com and rapid.org, none of which contain its full “rapidshare” trademark.
The sites in question all relate to sharing files (mostly copyrighted works) on RapidShare. Rapid.org bounces visitors to Bolt.org, a file-sharing forum for predominantly pirated content.
It’s a bit of a stretch to see how any of these domains could be seen to be confusingly similar to the RapidShare trademark. But not, I think, a stretch too far for many UDRP panelists.
Ironically, Rapid.org, which must be worth a fair bit on the aftermarket, was originally registered in 1997 by an IP-protection company.
RapidShare has filed dozens of UDRP claims over the last few months, initially targeting file-sharing sites that utilized rival services, before broadening its campaign to also hit RapidShare-centric sites.

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Comments (3)

  1. dickish says:

    they are just trying useless PR stunts

  2. […] this means for the UDRP case against rapid.org, which is also in the business of helping people share copyrighted material, remains to be seen. […]

  3. […] community, with over half a million members, has been described as a forum for “predominantly pirated content” where audio books, eBooks, film and music is made freely […]

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