Source: https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2007/d2007-1538.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 22:12:48+00:00

Document:
The Respondent is Mr. Oezyurt, United States of America, appearing pro se.
The disputed domain name <harvardbusiness.net> is registered with GoDaddy.com, Inc.
The Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the “Center”) on October 17, 2007. On October 19, 2007, the Center transmitted by email to GoDaddy.com, Inc. a request for registrar verification in connection with the domain name at issue. On October 20, 2007, GoDaddy.com, Inc. transmitted by email to the Center its verification response confirming that the Respondent is listed as the registrant and providing the contact details. The Center verified that the Complaint satisfied the formal requirements of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy”), 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”).
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 October 26, 2007. In accordance with the Rules, paragraph 5(a), the due date for Response was November 15, 2007. The Response was filed with the Center on November 15, 2007.
The Complainant also owner numerous federal registrations for the mark HARVARD and other HARVARD-formative marks issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), including the following marks: HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL, and HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING (collectively “the HARVARD marks”). The Complainant licenses the use of the HARVARD marks to Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, which also operates a website at “www.harvardbusinessreview.com”.
The Respondent registered the disputed domain name <harvardbusiness.net> on March 30, 2006. The disputed domain name currently is parked on what appears to be a pay-per-click portal site containing advertising and sponsored links related to Harvard University and the Harvard Business Review, and links to other websites related to business schools or business education programs. Several of the sponsored links are specifically identified by reference to the Complainant’s registered marks HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW and HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL, and resolve to websites where Harvard business publications are offered.
The Complainant states that it owns hundreds of HARVARD-formative trademarks registrations, and numerous registrations for HARVARD BUSINESS-formative trademarks, including the federally registered marks HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL, and HARVERD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING. The Complainant’s subsidiary, Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, publishes the Harvard Business Review, a journal in print since 1922. The Complainant asserts that it first used the HARVARD mark in 1638, and that its HARVARD marks are well-known and have become famous.
The Complainant contends that the disputed domain name is confusingly similar to the Complainant’s numerous HARVARD marks, including HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL, HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING, and HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW. The Complainant asserts that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name because (1) the Complainant has not licensed or otherwise authorized the Respondent to use its marks, and (2) the Respondent is not commonly known by the disputed domain name. The Complainant further contends that the Respondent is using the disputed domain name to confuse and divert Internet users seeking information about the Complainant and/or Complainant’s educational services and publications to the Respondent’s “copycat” website. For all of the foregoing reasons, the Complainant further contends that the Respondent registered and is using the disputed domain name in bad faith.
The Respondent declares that he did not register the domain name for business or commercial purposes and that he has not used the domain name for business or commercial purposes. According to the Respondent, the disputed domain name is being parked as a courtesy by the domain registrar GoDaddy.com Inc., and it is the registrar and not the Respondent who is responsible for the website content.
The Panel finds that the disputed domain name <harvardbusiness.net> is confusingly similar to the Complainant’s HARVARD marks, including HARVARD, HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL, and HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING. The Complainant beyond question has established rights in its marks 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 USPTO. See EAuto, L.L.C. v. Triple S. Auto Parts d/b/a Kung Fu Yea Enterprises, Inc., WIPO Case No. D2000-0047. The Panel further finds that the Complainant’s HARVARD marks are well-known and have achieved some degree of fame.
In the Internet context of paragraph 4(a)(i) of the Policy, the question of identity or confusing similarity is evaluated based solely on a comparison of the complainant’s mark and the alphanumeric string constituting the domain name at issue. Magnum Piering, Inc. v. The Mudjackers and Garwood S. Wilson, WIPO Case No. D2000-1525. Thus, the Panel compares the mark and the domain name alone, independent of the use factors usually considered in a traditional trademark infringement action. See Banconsumer Service, Inc. v. Mary Langthorne, Financial Advisor, WIPO Case No. D2001-1367; InfoSpace.com, Inc. v. Delighters, Inc. d/b/a Cyber Joe’s Internet Caf�, WIPO Case No. D2000-0068. Based on such a comparison, the Panel concludes that the disputed domain name is confusingly similar to the Complainant’s marks.
As noted above, the Complainant is required to make a prima facie showing under paragraph 4(a)(ii) of the Policy in order to shift the burden to the Respondent to come forward with evidence of rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name under paragraph 4(c). The Complainant’s marks are distinctive and well-known. It is undisputed that the Complainant has not authorized the Respondent to use the Complainant’s marks or register domain names appropriating these marks. There is no indication that the Respondent is commonly known by the disputed domain name. Further, there is evidence that the disputed domain name is being used with what appears to be a pay-per-click portal site.
The Panel believes that a fair inference can be drawn from the circumstances of this case that the Respondent registered and is using the disputed domain name in a bad faith attempt to profit from the attractive quality of the Complainant’s HARVARD mark. The Respondent does not deny being aware of the Complainant, and such awareness reasonably can be inferred from the Respondent’s registration of a domain name incorporating the Complainant’s well-known and distinctive HARVARD mark. Further, the disputed domain name is being used in connection with an apparent pay-per-click portal website with sponsored links consisting of the Complainant’s HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW and HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL marks. As noted in Research In Motion Limited v. Dustin Picov, WIPO Case No. D2001-0492, when a domain name is so obviously connected with a complainant and its products or services, its very use by a registrant with no connection to the complainant suggests “opportunistic bad faith”. See also Paula Ka v. Paula Korenek, WIPO Case No. D2003-0453.
The Panel notes the Respondent’s denial of any responsibility for the website content, and the claim that he has done nothing more than park the disputed domain name with the domain registrar, GoDaddy.com, Inc..3 Even assuming this to be the case, the Respondent’s unexplained failure to make any active use of the disputed domain name since its registration does not preclude a determination of bad faith registration and use in the circumstances of this case. The Respondent has offered no explanation of why he registered the disputed domain name, which incorporates the Complainant’s well known HARVARD mark, and he is silent regarding any actual or contemplated active use of the domain name. As noted in Telstra Corporation Limited supra, passive holding of a domain name can be considered as bad faith where it is not possible to conceive of any plausible actual or contemplated active use of the disputed domain name that would not be illegitimate. See also Salomon Smith Barney, Inc. v. Salomon Internet Services, WIPO Case No. D2000-0668. For the reasons discussed above, this Panel cannot in the circumstances of this case conceive of any plausible actual or contemplated use of the disputed domain name by the Respondent that would be legitimate.
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 <harvardbusiness.net> be transferred to the Complainant.
2 Although the Respondent denies any active use of the disputed domain name, the Panel notes that the use of a domain name confusingly similar to another’s trademark to generate pay-per-click revenue based on the attractive quality of the mark does not constitute a bona fide offering of goods or services under paragraph 4(c)(i) of the Policy. See Educational Testing Service (ETS) v. International Names Ltd., WIPO Case No. D2007-0449. Further, use of a domain name incorporating another’s mark to generate pay-per-click revenue is preclusive of any legitimate noncommercial or fair use of the domain name under paragraph 4(c)(iii) of the Policy. See Bata Brands S.�.r.l v. Charles Power, WIPO Case No. D2006-0191.
3 The Respondent is silent as to whether the website generates pay-per-click revenue.

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