Taft attorneys Robert W. McDonald, Philip Bautista, Zach Gordon, and Neil Peluchette successfully defended Thursday.com against a reverse domain name hijacking. Thursday Boot Company filed a Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) Complaint against the valuable Taft client-owned domain name, Thursday.com. Taft filed a response on behalf of the client. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Panelist dismissed the UDRP Complaint, found that Thursday Boots filed the Complaint in bad faith, and ruled the case was reverse domain name hijacking—where a trademark owner uses the UDRP in bad faith to attempt to deprive a registered domain-name holder of a domain name. The decision can be found here.

McDonald is chair of Taft’s Cincinnati Business practice group and leads mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financings, securities offerings, and other strategic initiatives. In addition, he assists clients with fund formation, IP commercialization and tech transfer, and developing programs to manage recurrent litigation.

Bautista is a partner in Taft’s Intellectual Property and Litigation practice groups and has extensive first-chair litigation and trial experience. He has litigated numerous cases throughout the United States involving trademarks, patents, copyrights and trade secrets. He also has extensive experience in litigation involving technology and trade secrets matters, as well as product liability, engineering, and construction matters.

Gordon is a partner in Taft’s Business and Intellectual Property practice groups and represents clients of all sizes, including individuals, private equity funds, large multi-national corporations, and closely held and family-owned businesses, in matters ranging from general “day-to-day” commercial transactions to complex transactions involving mergers, acquisitions, and recapitalizations. His intellectual property prosecution practice includes trademark and copyright matters in the United States and abroad.

Peluchette is an associate in Taft’s Intellectual Property and Litigation practice groups. He is regularly involved in UDRP matters, both filing complaints and responding on behalf of clients. He has experience in internet-related trademark and copyright enforcement and advises clients on matters relating to litigation, trademark infringement, and copyright prosecution.