Source: https://internet-law.ru/intlaw/udrp/2000/d2000-0119.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 20:10:33+00:00

Document:
3.2 On March 5, 2000, a Request for Registrar Verification was transmitted to the registrar, Network Solutions, Inc. ("NSI") requesting it to: (1) confirm that the domain name at issue is registered with NSI; (2) confirm that the person identified as the Respondent is the current registrant of the domain name; (3) provide the full contact details (i.e., postal address(es), telephone number(s), facsimile number(s), e-mail address(es)) available in the registrar’s Whois database for the registrant of the disputed domain name, the technical contact, the administrative contact and the billing contact; (4) confirm that the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the "Policy") is in effect; (5) indicate the current status of the domain name.
3.5 No formal deficiencies having been recorded, on March 8, 2000, a Notification of Complaint and Commencement of Administrative Proceeding (the "Commencement Notification") was transmitted to the Respondent (with copies to the Complainant, NSI and ICANN), setting a deadline of March 27, 2000, by which the Respondent could file a Response to the Complaint. The Commencement Notification was transmitted to the Respondent by e-mail to the e-mail addresses indicated in the Complaint and specified in NSI’s confirmation. In addition, the complaint was sent by express courier to the postal address given. Having reviewed the communications records in the case file, the Administrative Panel finds that the WIPO Center has discharged its responsibility under Paragraph 2(a) of the Uniform Rules "to employ reasonably available means calculated to achieve actual notice to Respondent." In any event, evidence of proper notice is provided by the evidence in the record of the Respondent’s participation in these proceedings.
3.6 On April 10, 2000, in view of the Complainant’s designation of a three-person panel, the WIPO Center appointed David E. Sorkin and John Terry to serve as Panelists in Case No. D2000-0119, having taken into consideration the panelist nominations provided by the parties and having received Statements of Acceptance and Declarations of Impartiality and Independence from each of them.
4.7 The domain name at issue resolves to a web site which states "[t]his website is currently under construction . . . for info about partnership opportunities or domain availability, send email to jon.kimball@icapital.com. You are visitor number:" followed by a counter which records the number of hits on the site. The majority determined these facts by entering "www.ccom.com" and reviewing the web page to which it resolved. The majority believes that this is the equivalent in a domain name case to the practice of taking judicial notice. See, e.g., the United States Federal Rules of Evidence, Rule 201.
The majority believe that the discussion of the dissent and those cases it cites elevates form over substance . Moreover, this disagreement over what is necessary for a second level domain name to be identical to a trademark or service mark, rather than merely confusingly similar, is more than academic. If the dissent's reasoning were accepted it would be very easy in the future for a prospective cybersquatter, by inserting or deleting a hyphen, to avoid the impact of the holding in Shirmax Retail Ltd./Detaillants/Shirmax LTEE v. CES Marketing Group, Inc., Case No. AF0104 (sometimes referred to as the "thyme.com case").
In the thyme.com case, the Panel found that if it were determined that a domain name is identical to a mark, then such a determination would satisfy the first of the three prong test for bad faith under the Policy, and there is no need to show a likelihood of confusion. If the dissent's reasoning were to be adopted, a would-be cybersquatter could simply eliminate the hyphen in "Hewlett-Packard" or insert a hyphen in "Microsoft" and thereby avoid an automatic finding of bad faith under ¶4(a)(i) of the Policy. Such conduct should not be encouraged.
6.5 Indeed, decisions have held that such conduct is in and of itself evidence of bad faith. "Bad faith on the part of the Respondents is to be inferred from using a hyphen as a device to obtain what is to all intents and purposes a domain name which is identical to Claimant’s service mark and earlier registered domain name." SeekAmerica Networks Inc. v. Tariq Masood and Solo Signs, ICANN Case No. D2000-0131.
6.6 Rule 15(a) provides in pertinent part that the "Panel shall decide a complaint on the basis of the statements . . . submitted . . . ." Complainant has stated in its certified Complaint that "[Respondent] has no rights or legitimate interest in the domain [<ccom.com>] based on [Complainant's] continuous and long prior use of its mark ccom." Complaint, ¶ 9, at 3.
6.7 Complainant's statement shifts the burden to Respondent to rebut this allegation. See, e.g., Policy, ¶ 4(c).
6.11 The most difficult question facing the Panel is whether the Respondent has registered and is using the domain name at issue in bad faith. Policy, ¶ 4(a)(iii).
6.13 As set out, supra, at ¶ 6.8, Respondent had constructive notice of Complainant's registered service mark at the time that Respondent registered the domain name at issue. To the extent that Respondent has established that others have registered "ccom" as a mark in other commercial fields or geographical areas, Respondent would have had constructive knowledge of any marks registered prior to his registration of the domain name at issue.
6.16 It has also been held that the use of a counter at the web site to which the domain name resolves without other content is tantamount to an offer to sell the domain name. Home Interior & Gifts, Inc. v. Home Interiors, ICANN Case No. D2000-0010. In World Wrestling Federation v. Bosman, ICANN Case No. D1999-0001, the Panel held that under ¶4(b)(i) of the Policy, an offer to sell the domain name at issue for more than the costs incurred constituted evidence of bad faith registration and use.
A domain name that incorporates an unhyphenated variant of a hyphenated trademark is not identical to the trademark. Draw-Tite, Inc. v. Plattsburgh Spring Inc., ICANN Case No. D2000-0017 (WIPO Mar. 14, 2000) (holding that "drawtite.com" is confusingly similar but not identical to trademarks "DRAW TITE" and "DRAW-TITE"); see also Pep Boys Manny, Moe & Jack of Cal. v. E-Commerce Today, Ltd., ICANN Case No. AF-0145 (DeC May 3, 2000) (holding that "pep-boys.com" is confusingly similar but not identical to trademark "PEP BOYS"); Gateway, Inc. v. Pixelera, Inc., ICANN Case No. D2000-0109 (WIPO Apr. 6, 2000) (holding that "gate-way.com" is confusingly similar but not identical to trademarks "GATEWAY" and "GATEWAY.COM"); A.P. Møller v. Web Society, ICANN Case No. D2000-0135 (WIPO Apr. 15, 2000) (holding that "maersksealand.com" and "maersk-sealand.com" are confusingly similar but not identical to trademarks "MAERSK" and "SEA-LAND"); Durham Herald Co. v. Erwin S., ICANN Case No. FA94312 (NAF Apr. 14, 2000) (holding that "heraldsun.com" is confusingly similar to trademark "The Herald-Sun," without addressing issue of identicality); Creo Products Inc. v. Website in Development, ICANN Case No. D2000-0160 (WIPO May 1, 2000) (holding that "creo-scitex.com" is confusingly similar to trademark "CREOSCITEX," without addressing issue of identicality).
It is true that there have been UDRP decisions that reach a contrary result, including the decisions cited by the majority. In most of those cases, however, identicality has been at most an alternative basis for the panel's holding. The panels in five cases found both identicality and confusing similarity. See Channel Tunnel Group Ltd. v. Powell, ICANN Case No. D2000-0038 (WIPO Mar. 17, 2000); SeekAmerica Networks, Inc. v. Masood, ICANN Case No. D2000-0131 (WIPO Apr. 13, 2000); Colgate-Palmolive Co. v. Kasinga, ICANN Case No. FA94203 (NAF Feb. 28, 2000); Marriott International, Inc. v. Cafй au lait, ICANN Case No. FA93670 (NAF Feb. 9, 2000); and NFL Properties, Inc. v. Rahe, ICANN Case No. D2000-0128 (WIPO Apr. 26, 2000). In Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Cupcake City, ICANN Case No. FA93562 (NAF Mar. 31, 2000), the respondent's domain name was spelled differently than the complainant's trademark, and the panel found it "phonetically identical to and confusingly similar to" the trademark. In Slep-Tone Entertainment Corp. v. Sound Choice Disk Jockeys, Inc., ICANN Case No. FA93636 (NAF Mar. 13, 2000), the panel found the respondent's domain name "virtually identical" to the complainant's trademark based upon a likelihood of confusion. In only two of the cases cited by the majority, InfoSpace.com, Inc. v. Ofer, ICANN Case No. D2000-0075 (WIPO Apr. 4, 2000), and EFG Bank European Financial Group SA v. Jacob Foundation, ICANN Case No. D2000-0036 (WIPO Mar. 22, 2000), did the panels find identicality without also finding confusing similarity.
Complainant may have elected not to pursue a claim of confusing similarity for strategic reasons, or (perhaps more likely) due to oversight. Had Complainant chosen to raise the issue of confusing similarity, Respondent might well have been able to present a plausible counterargument. Identicality and confusing similarity are two distinct theories -- confusing similarity is not merely a lesser included version of identicality, and alleging one of these does not automatically allege the other. In any event, Complainant was represented in this proceeding by capable legal counsel, and I see no need to supplement the allegations that Complainant actually made with others that Complainant chose not to include, or to afford Complainant a second opportunity to allege what frankly is an obvious component of a prima facie case under the UDRP.
To the extent that Mondich v. Brown, ICANN Case No. D2000-0004 (WIPO Feb. 16, 2000), holds that bad faith registration need not be proved if a domain name owner fails to make "bona fide use" of the name for two years, I believe the decision is contrary to the clear language of the UDRP, which requires that both registration and use be in bad faith. See, e.g., World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. v. Bosman, ICANN Case No. D1999-0001 (WIPO Jan. 14, 2000) (inferring bad faith registration from registrant's attempt to sell domain name to complainant three days after registering it). Passively holding or "parking" a domain name for an extended period may well be relevant to bad faith use, but it does nothing to show that the name was originally registered in bad faith. In Beverages & More, Inc. v. Glenn Sobel Mgt., ICANN Case No. AF-0092 (DeC Mar. 9, 2000), the panel considered the respondent's "admissions, evasive tactics, gratuitously vituperative and wholly unsupported allegations about the purported motives and actions of opposing counsel, as well as the other facts and circumstances adduced by Claimant" in concluding that the respondent had registered its domain name in bad faith. Similarly, in Telstra Corp. v. Nuclear Marshmallows, the panel found bad faith registration based in part upon the respondent's deliberate attempts to conceal its identity and the fact that the respondent must have known at the time that it registered the domain name that it could not possibly make legitimate use of the name.
1. It is curious that, in the middle of panel deliberations, the Respondent (or his agent or assignee) changed the link to the web site, so that www.ccom.com now resolves to a site offering computer products for sale copyrighted by vstore.com. Such changes in conduct following the onset of proceedings cannot be allowed to affect their outcome. See, e.g., Ingersoll-Rand v. Frank Gully, d/b/a Advcomren, ICANN Case No. D2000-0021; Ventura Foods LLC v. Pathi, ICANN Case No. AF-0136.
While the domain name DRAWTITE.COM is not identical to Complainant’s registered trademarks DRAW TITE and DRAW-TITE and Design, this Panel finds that the subject domain name is confusingly similar to the Complainant’s registered trademarks. Addition or deletion of a hyphen or space between the two words of the mark makes an insubstantial difference to the appearance, pronunciation and meaning of the terms.

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