Source: https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/search/text.jsp?case=D2018-2928
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 14:55:48+00:00

Document:
Respondent is Perfect Privacy, LLC of Jacksonville, Florida, United States of America (“United States”) / Jeanbaptiste Chatillon, Sanofi LLC of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States.
The disputed domain name <sanofi-corp.com> (the “Domain Name”) is registered with Register.com (the “Registrar”).
The Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the “Center”) on December 21, 2018. On December 24, 2018, the Center transmitted by email to the Registrar a request for registrar verification in connection with the Domain Name. On December 24, 2018, the Registrar transmitted by email to the Center its verification response disclosing registrant and contact information for the Domain Name which differed from the named Respondent and contact information in the Complaint. The Center sent an email communication to Complainant on December 27, 2018 providing the registrant and contact information disclosed by the Registrar, and inviting Complainant to submit an amendment to the Complaint. Complainant filed an amendment to the Complaint on December 28, 2018.
In accordance with the Rules, paragraphs 2 and 4, the Center formally notified Respondent of the Complaint, and the proceedings commenced on January 8, 2019. In accordance with the Rules, paragraph 5, the due date for Response was January 28, 2019. Respondent did not submit any response. Accordingly, the Center notified the Respondent’s default on January 30, 2019.
The Center appointed Marina Perraki as the sole panelist in this matter on February 11, 2019. 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.
According to the Complaint, Complainant is a French multinational pharmaceutical company, with presence in over 100 countries. With R&D investment of EUR 5.47 billion in 2017 and consolidated net sales of EUR 35.05 billion in 2017, EUR 33.82 billion in 2016, EUR 34.06 billion in 2015 and EUR 31.38 billion in 2014 it ranks as the 4th world’s largest multinational pharmaceutical company by prescription sales.
- European Union Trade Mark registration No. 000596023 for SANOFI, filed on July 15, 1997, and registered on February 1, 1999, in International classes 3 and 5.
The Domain Name was registered on December 9, 2018 and resolves to an inactive page.
Complainant has demonstrated rights through registration and use of the SANOFI mark.
The Panel finds that the Domain Name <sanofi-corp.com> is confusingly similar with the SANOFI trademark of Complainant.
The letters “corp”, short version of the word “corporation”, added in the Domain Name, do not avoid a finding of confusing similarity (Philip Morris Products S.A. v. Yang Jiang Nan, WIPO Case No. D2018-1869; Accenture Global Services Limited v. Jean Jacque / Luck Loic, WIPO Case No. D2016-1315; Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co LLP v. Registration Private, Domains by Proxy LLC / Ian Piggi, WIPO Case No. D2015-0135; WIPO Overview of WIPO Panel Views on Selected UDRP Questions, Third Edition (“WIPO Overview 3.0”), section 1.8).
The addition of a hyphen “-” between the words in the “sanofi-corp” portion of the Domain Name is also immaterial for the purpose of comparison (Société des Produits Nestlé S.A. v. Sonia de Ferrero, WIPO Case No. D2016-1300).
The generic Top-Level Domain (“gTLD”) “.com” is disregarded, as TLDs typically do not form part of the comparison on the grounds that they are required for technical reasons only (Rexel Developpements SAS v. Zhan Yequn, WIPO Case No. D2017-0275).
Respondent did not demonstrate any prior to the notice of the dispute, use of the Domain Name or a trademark corresponding to the Domain Name in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services. On the contrary, as Complainant has demonstrated, the Domain Name leads to an inactive website.
The Panel concludes that Respondent has registered and used the Domain Name in bad faith. Complainant’s SANOFI trademark is well known worldwide. This has been repeatedly recognized (Sanofi v. Steven Shao, WIPO Case No. D2018-1747; Sanofi v. Dimitri Zarlov, WIPO Case No. D2018-1681; Sanofi v. Constantin Routing, WIPO Case No. D2018-1678; Sanofi v. Linpinfeng, WIPO Case No. D2018-1441).
Furthermore SANOFI is a fictitious word. Because the SANOFI mark had been widely used and registered at the time of the Domain Name registration by Complainant, the Panel finds it more likely than not that Respondent had Complainant’s mark in mind when registering this Domain Name (Tudor Games, Inc. v. Domain Hostmaster, Customer ID No. 09382953107339 dba Whois Privacy Services Pty Ltd / Domain Administrator, Vertical Axis Inc., WIPO Case No. D2014-1754; Parfums Christian Dior v. Javier Garcia Quintas and Christiandior.net, WIPO Case No. D2000-0226).
Respondent should have known about Complainant’s rights, due to the fact that Complainant’s mark had significant goodwill and reputation globally when the Domain Name was registered (Caesars World, Inc. v. Forum LLC, WIPO Case No. D2005-0517; Compart AG v. Compart.com / Vertical Axis Inc., WIPO Case No. D2009-0462).
Respondent could have searched the United States trademark registry and would have found Complainant’s prior registration in respect of SANOFI (Citrix Online LLC v. Ramalinga Reddy Sanikommu Venkata, WIPO Case No. D2012-1338).
Furthermore, the Domain Name incorporates in whole Complainant’s mark with the addition of a hyphen and the non-distinctive term “corp”, short version of “corporation”, resembling Complainant’s legal nature as a corporation.
As regards bad faith use, Complainant demonstrated that the Domain Name leads to an inactive website. The non-use of a domain name would not prevent a finding of bad faith (Sanofi v. Whois Agent, Whois Privacy Protection Service, Inc. / Jim Moretta, WIPO Case No. D2016-0096; Trodat GmbH v. Fuat Akkus, Yonkinya, WIPO Case No. D2016-0226; Telstra Corporation Limited v. Nuclear Marshmallows, WIPO Case No. D2000-0003; WIPO Overview 3.0, section 3.3).
The Panel considers the following factors: (i) the reputation of Complainant’s mark, which has been repeatedly recognised; (ii) the failure of Respondent to submit a response; (iii) the demonstrated initial concealment of the Domain Name holder’s identity through use of a privacy shield and the current appearance of Respondent as holder of the Domain Name under “Sanofi LLC” as registrant organisation, without any authorization from Complainant; and (iv) the implausibility of any good faith use to which the Domain Name may conceivably be put, given that as Complainant has demonstrated the corresponding website is inactive.
For the foregoing reasons, in accordance with paragraphs 4(i) of the Policy and 15 of the Rules, the Panel orders that the Domain Name <sanofi-corp.com> be transferred to Complainant.

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