Source: https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2007/d2007-0685.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 15:58:17+00:00

Document:
The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises v. ECWD, Inc.
The Complainant is The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises, of California, United States of America, represented by Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin, United States of America.
The Respondent is ECWD, Inc., of Florida, United States of America.
The disputed domain name <drunkenhobbit.com> is registered with Intercosmos Media Group d/b/a directNIC.com.
In accordance with the Rules, paragraphs 2(a) and 4(a), the Center formally notified the Respondent of the Complaint, and the proceedings commenced on May 16, 2007. In accordance with the Rules, paragraph 5(a), the due date for Response was June 5, 2007. The Respondent did not submit any response. Accordingly, the Center subsequently notified the Respondent’s default.
The Center appointed William R. Towns as the sole panelist in this matter on July 5, 2007. The Panel finds that it was properly constituted. The Panel has submitted the Statement of Acceptance and Declaration of Impartiality and Independence, as required by the Center to ensure compliance with the Rules, paragraph 7.
The Complainant is the owner of numerous United States federal registrations for the trademarks HOBBIT and THE HOBBIT (collectively the “HOBBIT Marks”), the first of which was issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in March 1983. The Complainant also is the owner of trademark registrations for the HOBBIT Marks in a number of other countries around the world. The Complainant is the holder of various exclusive rights relating to the literary works of J.R.R. Tolkien, including such well-known works as The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the The Hobbit.1 The Complainant has made extensive use of the HOBBIT Marks through worldwide licensing for use with a broad array of goods and services.
The Respondent registered the disputed domain name <drunkenhobbit.com> on February 24, 2003, according to the registrant’s Whois database. The uncontested evidence before the Panel indicates that disputed domain name has been used in association with a website that features links to third party pornographic websites.
The Complainant asserts exclusive rights to use and license marks related to J.R.R. Tolkien’s works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The Complainant holds numerous registrations for the HOBBIT Marks in the United States of America and elsewhere and also asserts common law rights in these marks based on continuous and exclusive use. The Complainant contends that the HOBBIT Marks are famous and well known, as a result of their extensive and continuous use and the good will developed therefrom, and the worldwide popularity of the Tolkien works.
The Complainant contends that the disputed domain name is confusingly similar to the HOBBIT Marks. The Complainant maintains that the Respondent has not been authorized to use the HOBBIT Marks, that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name, and that the Respondent registered and is using the domain name in bad faith for commercial gain to misleadingly divert Internet users to a pornographic website.
Paragraph 4(c) of the Policy in turn identifies three means through which a respondent may establish rights or legitimate interests in the domain name. Although the complainant bears the burden of establishing all three elements of paragraph 4(a) of the Policy, panels have recognized that this could result in the often impossible task of proving a negative, requiring information that is primarily if not exclusively within the knowledge of the respondent. Thus the consensus view is that paragraph 4(c) shifts the burden to the respondent to come forward with evidence of a right or legitimate interest in the domain name, once the complainant has made a prima facie showing. See, e.g., Document Technologies, Inc. v. International Electronic Communications Inc., WIPO Case No. D2000-0270.
The Panel finds that the disputed domain name <drunkenhobbit.com> is confusingly similar to the Complainant’s HOBBIT Marks, which the Complainant unquestionably has established rights in through registration and use. At a minimum, the Complainant’s marks are entitled to a presumption of validity by virtue of their registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. See EAuto, L.L.C. v. Triple S. Auto Parts d/b/a Kung Fu Yea Enterprises, Inc., WIPO Case No. D2000-0047. Further, the Complainant has submitted extensive evidence that the HOBBIT Marks have acquired significant fame and are well-known.
The disputed domain name incorporates the Complainant’s HOBBIT mark in its entirety. The mere addition of a generic or descriptive term such as “drunken” does not diminish the confusing similarity of the disputed domain name to the Complainant’s HOBBIT Marks. See, e.g., Pfizer Inc. v. Asia Ventures, Inc., WIPO Case No. D2005-0256. Accordingly, the Panel finds that the Complainant has satisfied the requirements of paragraph 4(a)(i) of the Policy.
As noted above, once the Complainant makes a prima facie showing under paragraph 4(a)(ii) of the Policy, paragraph 4(c) shifts the burden to the Respondent to come forward with evidence of rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain. It is uncontroverted that the Respondent is not affiliated with the Complainant and that the Complainant has not authorized the Respondent to use the Complainant’s marks or register domain names incorporating those marks. Further, there is no indication that the Respondent has been commonly known by the disputed domain name. Instead the record reflects the Respondent’s registration of a domain name incorporating in its entirety the Complainant’s HOBBIT mark and its use to redirect the public to a pornographic website.
The Panel is persuaded from the record of this case that a prima facie showing under paragraph 4(a)(ii) has been made. The circumstances as set forth and documented in the Complaint and its Annexes are sufficiently evocative of cybersquatting to require the Respondent to come forward with evidence under paragraph 4(c) of the Policy demonstrating rights to or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name. See, e.g., Huge Fastigheter AB v. Nestol Ltd, WIPO Case No. DNU2005-0002.
The Respondent has not submitted a formal response to the Complaint, and in the absence of any such submission this Panel may accept all reasonable inferences and allegations included in the Complaint as true. See Talk City, Inc. v. Michael Robertson, WIPO Case No. D2000-0009.2 In any event, the Panel has carefully reviewed the record in this case, and finds nothing therein that would bring the Respondent’s registration and use of the disputed domain name within any of the safe harbors of paragraph 4(c) of the Policy. Nothing in the record indicates that the Respondent has been commonly known by the disputed domain name, or that the Respondent has made any noncommercial or fair use of the domain name. Further, numerous panels have held that a respondent’s use of a domain name corresponding to a third party’s mark to attract Internet traffic to a pornographic website does not constitute the use of the domain name in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services within the meaning of paragraph 4(c)(i). See, e.g., Benetton Group SpA v. Domain for Sale, WIPO Case No. D2001-1498. See also The Saul Zaentz Company v. Siarhei Chyzhevich, WIPO Case No. D2006-0370.
As noted above, the Complainant has provided substantial evidence that its HOBBIT Marks are well-known, and the Panel concludes from the totality of the circumstances in this case that the Respondent was aware of the Complainant’s marks when it registered the disputed domain name. The Panel further finds from the circumstances of this case that the Respondent’s aim in registering the disputed domain name was in all likelihood to profit from and exploit the Complainant’s marks, by attracting Internet users looking for products or services associated with the Complainant’s marks to the Respondent’s website, which on the uncontested evidence provided in the Complaint appears to have been used to redirect or provide links to third party fee-based pornographic websites. The Panel is satisfied that this constitutes bad faith registration and use of the disputed domain name under paragraph 4(a)(iii) of the Policy. See The Saul Zaentz Company v. Siarhei Chyzhevich, WIPO Case No. D2006-0370.
For all the foregoing reasons, in accordance with paragraphs 4(i) of the Policy and 15 of the Rules, the Panel orders that the domain name <drunkenhobbit.com> be transferred to the Complainant.
1 “Hobbit” is the name given by Tolkien to the fanciful, three-foot tall characters first featured in The Hobbit , published in the late 1930’s, and then in The Lord of the Rings published some sixteen years later.
2 Some panels have held that a respondent’s lack of response can be construed as an admission that the respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in a disputed domain name. See Do the Hustle, LLC v. Tropic Web, WIPO Case No. D2000-0624. Other panel decisions note that adverse inferences may be drawn from a respondent’s failure to reply. See Charles Jourdan Holding AG v. AAIM, WIPO Case No. D2000-0403.

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