Lunazul.com Ownership Remains Unchanged: Agave Ventures Loses Domain Name Dispute

Recently, tequila producer Agave Ventures LLC lost a UDRP dispute regarding the domain name Lunazul.com, failing to secure the transfer of the domain.

Agave Ventures, the owner of the "Lunazul" tequila brand, stated that the LUNAZUL trademark was first put into commercial use in late 2006 and officially registered as a U.S. and international trademark in 2007. Furthermore, Agave Ventures acquired the more directly related domain name LunazulTequila.com in 2005 for brand promotion.

However, the key issue in this case lies in the timing discrepancy. The disputed domain name Lunazul.com was actually registered in 2004, two years before Agave Ventures began using the LUNAZUL trademark and more than a year before the company acquired lunazultequila.com.

In its ruling, the panel noted that Agave Ventures failed to prove that the domain name holder acted in bad faith at the time of registration. The evidence submitted showed no indication that the respondent had knowledge of or intended to register the LUNAZUL brand in 2004. Furthermore, "lunazul," meaning "blue moon" in Spanish, is a generic term, further supporting the legitimacy of the domain name registration.

The panel emphasized that the core of the UDRP is determining whether the respondent registered or used the domain name in bad faith. Because the registration predated the trademark's use, Agave Ventures failed to meet this requirement. Ultimately, the panel dismissed the complaint, and the domain name Lunazul.com remains owned by its current owner.