Here’s an example of  a large, powerful organization taking a domain name which is commonly referred to as domain name hijacking. Domain name hijacking occurs when an entity, usually a large multi national corporation, but in this case a hospital, uses their attorneys and deep pockets to take a domain name away from an individual.

Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center, a United States non-profit organization filed a UDRP complaint against JM Xtrade, Inc regarding the domain names <lomalinda.org> and <lomalinda.net> (the “Domain Names”). The domain names are clearly generic and refer to a very well known geographic location in California and at least a dozen mexican restaurants that I know of personally that use the Loma Linda as their identifing mark. By the way, the seafood enchilidas at the Loma Linda in the south lower highlands area of Denver are great! A little spicy but great flavor.

Respondent (the guy that owned the domain names) made one mistake. He had links and other information related to the Loma Linda hospitals. That’s the only nugget that the arbiter could hold onto in order to justify transfering the domain names to the hospital. If the individual would have just had information on the town Loma Linda then there is no way the domain names get hijacked. An unfornate situation for the owner of the domain names.

What is a little weird is that Loma Linda hospitals didn’t even file for federal trademarks. They relied on their common law rights.