The domain crowdtilt.com was then allowed to lapse, later snapped up by a third party. The new domain owner then set up the email address tech@crowdtilt.com, which allowed him to gain access to Tilt.com ultimately transferring the domain away from Airbnb. The matter did not sit well with Airbnb so they filed a UDRP complaint to recover the domain but failed in its attempt.  

The Panelist denied the complaint on the ground that Airbnb did not meet its burden of proof of bad faith registration and use. The Panelist went on to say that the UDRP is designed to deal with clear cases of cybersquatting but “not intended to thwart every sort of questionable business practice imaginable.” In short, the UDRP was the incorrect forum to address the theft of the domain. 

However, the Panelist did make a controversial statement that the Respondent was the escrow agent and acquired the domain in that capacity thus lacked bad faith. This could create an absurd situation that a Respondent’s defence is merely that they are acting as an escrow agent or holding the domain in trust. The vast majority of domains that infringe trade marks make use of a privacy service, which is essentially a trust service.