Glenn Beck’s non-profit defends domain in cybersquatting dispute

Non-profit said it acquired HonestHistory.com for an online archive of historical artifacts.

The publisher of Honest History magazine lost a cybersquatting challenge against HonestHistory.com.

Mercury One, a non-profit founded by conservative media personality Glenn Beck, has successfully defended the domain name HonestHistory.com in a UDRP.

Honest History Co filed the case. The company publishes a kids history magazine called Honest History and uses the domain name HonestHistoryMag.com.

Mercury One acquired HonestHistory.com from HugeDomains for $2,595 in May 2019. The Complainant had published a few quarterly issues by then, but it appears the Mercury One wasn’t aware of that. Mercury One hired consultants to help name an online archival database of thousands of historical artifacts and documents, and the consultants suggested the name Honest History.

World Intellectual Property Organization panelist Scott Blackmer found that Honest History Co did not show that Mercury One lacked rights or legitimate interests in the domain:

…there is no convincing evidence that in May 2019 the Respondent chose the Domain Name as a pretext to attack the Complainant’s unregistered or anticipated trademark. There is, on the other hand, evidence of the Respondent’s demonstrable preparations to use the Domain Name in connection with a bona fide service offering.

It’s surprising that Honest History Co didn’t buy HonestHistory.com when it could have, given the low cost.

This isn’t the first time Glenn Beck has been connected to a UDRP. In 2009, he lost a UDRP against the domain glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com.

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Author: Andrew Allemann