Owning a generic .com doesn’t give you a monopoly on other top level domains.

The owner of the descriptive and generic domain name IntlMovers.COM has failed to win the domain name IntlMovers.ORG from its owner in a UDRP case.

Although IntlMovers.com existed before IntlMovers.org, and they offer similar services, panelist Tony Willoughby pointed out that owning a generic .com doesn’t give you an automatic monopoly on other top level domains:

    The Policy was designed to protect trade mark owners against cybersquatters. If the name in issue is merely a description common to a particular trade and is being used by the Respondent in relation to that trade, the registration and use of the Domain Name may well fall outside the scope of the Policy. Were it otherwise, domain name registrants could effectively monopolise descriptive terms. The owner of fish.com, for example, could monopolise “fish” in all domains even against sellers of fish.

Willoughby mentions that it’s possible to get trademark rights in a generic term, but the complainant failed to show it had these rights at the time the respondent registered the .org domain name.