World Intellectual Property Organization published three reverse domain name hijacking decisions today.

 

Here’s the third RDNH of the day

BY ANDREW ALLEMANN — JUNE 23, 2021 POLICY & LAW 2 COMMENTS

World Intellectual Property Organization published three reverse domain name hijacking decisions today.

When it rains, it pours, and today that means we have three reverse domain name hijacking (RDNH) cases to report.

Earlier today, I wrote about reverse domain name hijacking findings for Koibox.com and Machani.com.

The third case is for WWTM.org.

Maharishi Foundation USA, Inc is the guilty party in this case. It has a U.S. trademark for TM, which is short for its Transcendental Meditation technique. It uses the domain TM.org.

Working With The Mind, a community interest company in the UK, uses WWTM.org for its site. The organization helps people with mindfulness, including mindfulness programs for prisons and people impacted by COVID-19.

One of the Complainant’s arguments was that WWTM.org is a typo of WWW.TM.org, but the panelist didn’t buy that.

World Intellectual Property Organization panelist John Swinson took issue with how Maharishi Foundation USA, Inc presented its case.

In finding RDNH, called attention to this statement by Maharishi Foundation:

“Clearly, Respondent selected and used the Disputed Domain Name solely to attract consumers to its website by trading on the fame of the TM trademark; such use can not confer any proprietary rights in Complainant’s trademark to the Respondent.

Furthermore, nothing on the Respondent’s website suggests any proper use of the TM acronym or a good faith basis for adopting the WWTM name. Respondent does not state anywhere on his sites what TM, alone, or in combination with WWTM means.”

Swinson disagreed:

Based on the evidence presented in the Complaint, it is certainly not clear to the Panel that the Respondent selected the disputed domain name solely to trade on the fame of the TM trademark.

Further, it is clear to the Panel that, even on a cursory review of the Respondent’s website, the disputed name is an acronym for “Working With The Mind”. The Respondent’s website uses the name “Working With The Mind” in many places, including in the title. Prior to filing the Complainant, the Complainant and the Respondent communicated by email. The Respondent in this correspondence stated to the Complainant’s attorney: “You and the Foundation you represent can read more about WWTM on our website at wwtm.org.” The Complainant had no reasonable basis to assert in the Complaint that nothing on the Respondent’s website suggests any proper use for adopting the WWTM name.

The Complainant was legally represented. The Complainant promotes techniques to improve calmness, clarity of mind and happiness. The Respondent is a small social enterprise with limited funds and is self-represented, and it is reasonable for the Panel to conclude that the Complainant was aware of this before filing the Complainant.

Shuttleworth & Ingersoll P.L.C. represented the Complainant. The Respondent represented himself.

Legal feud over teaching of transcendental meditation technique is anything but peacefull

January 20, 2013
Associated Press

FAIRFIELD, IOWA –  The followers of a meditation practice that has roots in ancient India say it's simple: Close your eyes, silently repeat a mantra and relax. But a dispute among rivals for control over its teaching is anything but peaceful, featuring personal attacks, aggressive lawyering and accusations of improper business practices.

The feud pits the Iowa nonprofit that has taught transcendental meditation for decades against Thom Knoles, a former associate who left and built his own group of followers. The outcome could decide whether the Fairfield, Iowa-based Maharishi Foundation will continue to control the teaching of U.S. transcendental meditation — or whether rivals can market similar services and its benefits without obtaining a license from the group.


The sides are fighting for customers and to protect their own reputations in a federal court case over whether the foundation can enforce its trademark rights and claims of false advertising against Knoles and other teachers of his rival Vedic Meditation. With high stakes, the litigation over a technique that supporters say can reduce stress and blood pressure is getting tense.

To the foundation, Knoles and his followers are using the credibility and positive image associated with its technique to promote themselves and mislead customers. To Knoles' backers, the foundation is unfairly seeking a monopoly on a technique that's existed thousands of years.

Supporters of transcendental meditation — which involves closing one's eyes twice daily for 20 minutes while silently thinking to reduce stress and promote health — are being warned to choose sides carefully.

"Once you've formally burned your bridges, however, I'm afraid there'll be nothing more I or anyone can do to help you," a foundation supporter wrote in 2011, advising a businessman to reconsider his commitment to Knoles, in an email included in court records.

Supporters say the technique originated with the Vedas, sacred Hindu texts. Its modern incarnation was developed in India in the 1950s by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who later spread the technique worldwide and became spiritual guru to celebrities such as the Beatles.

Maharishi founded a university that settled in Fairfield in the 1970s. His backers manage the foundation, which teaches classes to thousands of students annually and owns trademarks for Transcendental Meditation and its TM nickname. The foundation reported $7.2 million in 2010 revenue but spent more than that advancing its mission.

Knoles, an Australia native, was a teacher in the movement 25 years. In court documents, he claims he was personally trained by the Maharishi, who died in 2008, and taught with the support of his groups. He cut ties in 1997 and has taught independently since — against the foundation's wishes.

Knoles started using the term Vedic Meditation to refer to his style. Knoles and his son offer instructional services through a company called The Veda Center, which states on its website it's not affiliated with the foundation.

The foundation argues that disclaimer isn't enough. Its lawyers have claimed that Knoles and his backers mislead customers by implying that scientific studies have found a range of health benefits for Vedic Meditation. They say studies finding benefits such as reduced risk of heart disease were done on the foundation's proprietary technique and not Knoles' offshoot.

"We don't think somebody else can say, 'Hey, I've got a shop over here, too and we can use those 600 studies to show what I'm doing is right'," said foundation lawyer Mark Zaiger. "Almost every single one of those studies was done on subjects that received training from certified TM trainers."

Knoles argues the two forms of meditation are essentially one in the same, which the foundation disputes.

In legal demand letters, foundation lawyers have accused Knoles of exaggerating his credentials. One vowed to make public his misrepresentations if Knoles did not take steps to further disassociate his teachings from TM.

But Knoles declined and largely defended his biography. His attorney said he did learn under the Maharishi, was personally awarded an honorary doctorate by him, and had become "an acclaimed teacher of yoga" by age 20.

Oddly enough, the foundation hasn't sued Knoles, for strategic reasons Zaiger said were confidential. Instead, it filed a lawsuit in 2011 against The Meditation House, an Iowa corporation owned by life coach Jules Green, who promotes Vedic Meditation on her website.

The lawsuit seeks an order preventing Green from mentioning transcendental meditation studies in her advertising, to notify customers that there is no evidence of benefits for Vedic Meditation and to pay damages for false advertising and trademark infringement.

Green is fighting the lawsuit, saying the technique cannot be controlled by a single foundation.

"I think it is incorrect, and contrary to the principles of the Vedic tradition, and does not seem to me to be the sort of thing a not-for-profit organization with spiritual goals should be doing," she said.

Green's attorney has argued the lawsuit is really a way for the foundation to gather evidence on Knoles. Its lawyers last month subpoenaed two California teachers who learned under Knoles, directing them to testify.

Knoles then filed paperwork to join the case last week, arguing the foundation's trademarks are "generic and invalid" and have been used to violate U.S. antitrust laws. He's seeking an order requiring the foundation to stop accusing him of false advertising.

Zaiger said the foundation would file a detailed response this week, saying it is simply trying to enforce its trademarks like any business would.

Jeffrey Harty, a Des Moines lawyer who has taught trademark law at University of Iowa, said the case was not the "garden variety" trademark dispute and that the "real fighting issues" appear to be false advertising claims involving statements that Vedic Meditation is the same or similar to the method taught by the Maharishi and was the subject of studies cited in promotional materials. The foundation will have to prove those statements are false and deceive consumers in order to prevail, he said.

Work advances on‘peace palace’ in Rendlesham

East Anglian Daily Times
13 August 2015
Tom Potter

A transcendental meditation centre is taking shape in a Suffolk village.

External work is well under way on the £3.5million Maharishi Peace Palace in Rendlesham.

When it opens, the site will be dedicated to teaching transcendental meditation, including consciousness-based education and natural health care known as AyurVeda.

Permission was granted in 2008 for the Maharishi Foundation to develop a residential venue teaching the techniques of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Richard Johnson, Rendlesham resident and national director of the foundation, said work was progressing well on the development, being built by construction firm RG Carter.

"It's all going very much to programme," said Mr Johnson. "The foundations and the ground floor are being put in place, and structural supports for the ground and first floor are going up."

A purpose-built successor to the TM Academy, which operated for more than 25 years in Badingham, it will be the centrepiece of Rendlesham's Garden Village – one of the largest Vedic architecture settlements of its kind.

Mr Johnson said: "Everything has gone very smoothly so far. We put the application in as long ago as 2008 and the building design hasn't really changed, apart from a few little changes made to ensure we could start building as soon as possible."

Completion of the main building, which will include a central hall, meeting rooms and a range of other facilities, is expected by next June, with the official opening scheduled for September 2016.

The centre will offer both beginner and advanced courses in transcendental meditation, along with a programme of community events. Developers are keen to hear from local groups interested in using the building as a venue.
"Our aim and purpose is creating peace," said Mr Johnson. "Now it's on the horizon, we are thrilled with the prospect of having this available. Lots of contributors have given financially, and leant their expertise, to make his happen."

A natural health spa is due to open on the site before the 30-bedroom main building begins accommodating guests. The foundation will also be linking up with the Maharishi University of Management in Iowa to offer oversees degree courses.

Former Foster and Partners architect D'Arcy Fenton is overseeing the project design, alongside local consultant John Renwick and project artist David Williams.

http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/work_advances_on_peace_palace_in_rendlesham_1_4190379