A UDRP panel just hit a real-estate brokerage with a Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH) ruling in the dispute over UpscaleAvenues.com, calling out the company for filing a complaint based on “unsupported claims.”
RDNH is what happens when a panel decides someone tried to steal a domain through the legal system instead of buying it legitimately. It’s the UDRP equivalent of getting publicly called out for bad behavior.
The panel wasn’t subtle. They pointed out that the complainant’s trademark claims were inconsistent, the case law they cited didn’t actually support their argument, and they completely ignored that the domain owner had a legitimate portfolio and registered the name before the complainant even existed. One panelist went further, describing the complaint as “an attempt to weaponize UDRP instead of resolving a genuine conflict.”
Why This Matters
RDNH findings are still pretty rare, but 2025 has seen more of them as small and medium-sized businesses rush to file trademarks after realizing someone owns the domain they want. Filing a trademark and then immediately launching a UDRP doesn’t automatically work—panels are catching on.
Two things to watch: whether this makes panels tougher on real-estate branding disputes going forward, and whether brokers start being more careful about filing UDRPs when they don’t have a real case.
For domain owners sitting on generic real-estate names, this ruling is a reminder that defensive registrations with legitimate intent can hold up even against trademark owners throwing legal weight around.
