Source: https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2009/d2009-0775.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 07:46:59+00:00

Document:
The Complainant is Public Storage of Glendale, California, United States of America, represented by McGuireWoods LLP, United States of America.
The Respondent is Domain Discreet / Hugh A. Anderson, Jr. c/o Alec Anderson of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States of America.
The disputed domain names are listed below. Each of the disputed domain names is registered with Register.com.
The Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the “Center”) on June 11, 2009. On June 12, 2009, the Center transmitted by email to Register.com a request for registrar verification in connection with the disputed domain name(s). On June 15, 2009, Register.com transmitted by email to the Center its verification response identifying the registrant of the disputed domain names as being a different entity from that named in the Complaint as Respondent. The Center provided the Complainant with notice of the change in registrant information on June 16, 2009. The Complainant filed an Amended Complaint on June 18, 2009. The Center verified that the Amended Complaint satisfied the formal requirements of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy” or “UDRP”), the Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Rules”), and the WIPO Supplemental Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Supplemental Rules”).
The Center appointed William R. Towns as the sole panelist in this matter on July 17, 2009. 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 in the business of renting private storage spaces. The Complainant began using the mark PUBLIC STORAGE with its business in 1973, and has continuously used the mark in commerce since that time. Additionally, the Complainant owns a United States trademark registration for the PUBLIC STORAGE mark in connection with the “renting of private storage spaces with limited access”. The Complainant is a member of the S&P 500 and the Forbes Global 2000, and with more than 2,000 storage facilities in the United States and Europe providing in excess of 135 million net rentable square feet, the Complainant is among the largest landlords in the world.
The Respondent registered the disputed domain names on July 27 and 28, 2008. The disputed domain names currently resolve to portal websites populated with advertising links, including links to third-party websites featuring self storage units, storage facilities, moving services, vehicle and equipment rentals, and other storage related goods and services.
The Complainant maintains that the disputed domain names are confusingly similar to its PUBLIC STORAGE mark, which the Complainant contends has become distinctive and famous as a result of Complainant's extensive sales, advertising, and promotion of its services under the mark. According to the Complainant, it has spent millions of dollars advertising and promoting the PUBLIC STORAGE mark in connection with its services and has generated billions of dollars in revenue utilizing the mark.
The Complainant asserts that the disputed domain names are nearly identical to its distinctive and well-known mark, and merely add locations, types of items stored, or discounts similar to those offered by the Complainant under the PUBLIC STORAGE mark. The Complainant notes that its various discounts include a “First Month for Just $1” special.
The Complainant asserts that the Respondent is using the disputed domain names to promote various services in a commercial setting in a manner likely to cause confusion in the marketplace whether the Respondent's goods and services are sponsored by or affiliated with the Complainant. The Complainant denies any connection with the Respondent, and further asserts that the Respondent has never been commonly known by the name “Public Storage”.
The Complainant contends that the Respondent registered and is using the disputed domain names in a bad faith attempt to profit from their confusingly similarity to the Complainant's PUBLIC STORAGE mark. The Complainant asserts that the Respondent is intentionally attempting to attract for commercial gain Internet users to the Respondent's website by creating a likelihood of confusion with the Complainant's mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation and/or endorsement of the Respondent's website or the products and services on the Respondent's website.
The Panel finds for purposes of paragraph 4(a)(i) of the Policy that the disputed domain names are confusingly similar to the Complainant's PUBLIC STORAGE mark, in which the Complainant has established rights through registration and continuous and extensive use. The critical inquiry under the first element of the Policy is whether the mark and domain name, when directly compared, are identical or confusingly similar. See Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Richard MacLeod d/b/a For Sale, WIPO Case No. D2000-0662. In this instance, each or the disputed domain names incorporates the Complainant's mark in its entirety. The confusing similarity thereby created is not diminished by the insertion of common words such as “rental”, “warehouse”, “garage”, and “furniture”, or phrases such as “1st month free”. If anything, these additional descriptive words and phrases tend call to mind the Complainant's business activities, and may actually heighten such confusion. See National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. v. Racing Connection / The Racin' Connection, Inc., WIPO Case No. D2007-1524.
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 of proof to the respondent to come forward with evidence of rights or legitimate interests in a disputed domain name. The Panel is persuaded from the record of this case that a prima facie showing under paragraph 4(a)(ii) has been made. It is undisputed that the Complainant has not authorized the Respondent to use the Complainant's mark, and there is no indication that the Respondent has been commonly known by any of the disputed domain names. Nevertheless, the record reflects the Respondent's registration of multiple domain names incorporating the Complainant's mark, and their use to divert Internet traffic to the Respondent's websites, presumably to generate click-through advertising revenue.
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.
As a result, the Panel finds no basis in the record upon which the Respondent could assert rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name under the safe harbor provisions of paragraph 4(c) of the Policy. The Complainants' prima facie showing under paragraph 4(a)(ii) of the Policy thus stands unrebutted.
As noted earlier, the Panel considers it a reasonable inference from the record that the Respondent knew of and had in mind the Complainant's mark when registering the disputed domain names. See Ticketmaster Corporation v. Spider Web Design, Inc., WIPO Case No. D2000-1551. The Respondent, lacking any connection to the Complainant, has registered and used multiple confusingly similar domain names to drive Internet traffic to what by all appearances is a pay-per-click advertising website. Absent any explanation from the Respondent, the Panel can ascribe no motive for the Respondent's opportunistic registration and use of the disputed domain names except to capitalize on or otherwise take advantage of the Complainant's rights. See Aubert International SAS and Aubert France SA v. Tucows.com Co., supra. Under the circumstances presented here, the Panel is of the opinion that the Respondent has used the disputed domain names in bad faith to attract Internet users to the Respondent's website for commercial gain, by creating a likelihood of confusion in terms of paragraph 4(b)(iv) of the Policy. See Edmunds.com v. Ult. Search, Inc., supra.
1 The term “Respondent” as used herein refers to Hugh A. Anderson Jr. c/o Alec Anderson unless otherwise indicated.
2 Some panels have held that a respondent's lack of response in particular circumstances can be construed as an admission that the respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in a disputed domain name. See, e.g., 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, e.g., Charles Jourdan Holding AG v. AAIM, WIPO Case No. D2000-0403.
3 A number of Panels, including this one, have concluded that a respondent may have a right to register and use a domain name to attract Internet traffic based on the appeal of a commonly used descriptive phrase, even where the domain name is confusingly similar to the registered mark of a complainant, provided it has not been registered with the complainant's trademark in mind. See, e.g., National Trust for Historic Preservation v. Barry Preston, WIPO Case No. D2005-0424. The Panel finds such decisions inapposite in the circumstances of this case. The registration of the Complainant's PUBLIC STORAGE mark on the USPTO Principal Register is evidence of the mark's distinctiveness, and the record further reflects that the Complainant's mark is well known and has come to be associated by the public with the Complainant's services. In the absence of any explanation from the Respondent, the Panel considers it more likely than not that the Respondent had the Complainant's mark in mind when registering the disputed domain names.

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