Source: https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2007/d2007-0981.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 02:54:49+00:00

Document:
The Complainant is Sanofi-aventis, Gentilly Cedex, France, of France, represented by Armfelt & Associ�s Selarl, France.
The Respondent is Mircea Timbusan, Chisinau, Moldova, of Moldova.
The disputed domain name <buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com> is registered with eNom.
The Center appointed Mary Vitoria, QC as the sole panelist in this matter on August 13, 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.
4.2 The Complainant is a multi-national pharmaceutical company present in more than 100 countries. One of the Complainant’s high-profile products is ACOMPLIA (the active ingredient of which is Rimonabant) which is indicated for the treatment of obese patients with untreated dyslipidemia. ACOMPLIA was granted an European Marketing Authorisation in June 2006 and is commercialized in the United Kingdom and Germany. Information concerning Rimonabant and ACOMPLIA has been widely disseminated on the Internet and has attracted much public attention.
4.3 The Complainant has filed trade mark applications for ACOMPLIA in over 100 countries and has registrations in France and a few other countries. A list of the Complainant’s worldwide trademark applications or registrations for the ACOMPLIA trademark is annexed to the Complaint.
4.4 The Complainant and its affiliates, have registered numerous domain names worldwide containing the ACOMPLIA trademark, for example <acomplia.fr>; <acomplia.us>; <acomplia.co.uk>; <acomplia.com>. Copies of the Whois search results for a selection of those domain names is annexed to the Complaint.
4.5 The disputed domain name <buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com> was created on November 19, 2006. It resolves to a website which gives information about the Complainant’s ACOMPLIA product but also provides sponsored links to online pharmacies offering the Complainant’s ACOMPLIA product for sale and to sites offering competing products and therapies. The home page of the website carries the following statement: “We are not associated or authorized by Sanofi-Aventis the manufacturer of Acomplia Rimonabant Zimulti. Rimonabant a diet pill is manufactured by Sanofi-Synthelabo Inc and under the trademark name of Acomplia in Europe and Zimulti in USA. Acomplia and Zimulti are trademarks of Sanofi Aventis. We are not the official store of Sanofi-Aventis and just affiliate to legal Internet pharmacies.”.
4.6 The Complainant requested that the domain name <buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com> be transferred to the Complainant.
(i) The Respondent’s registration consists of the use of the Complainant’s trademark in addition with the generic word “buy”, the descriptive term of the chemical compound (INN) of ACOMPLIA “rimonabant” and the gTLDs “com”. A wide variety of UDRP panelists have considered that the addition of generic words to trademarks is not sufficient to escape a finding of similarity and does not change the overall impression of the designation as being connected to the Complainant (see Sanofi-Aventis v. Direct Response Marketing aka DRM, WIPO Case No D2005-0661; Sanofi-aventis v. Elizabeth Riegel and Andrew Riegel, WIPO Case No. D2005-1045; Telstra Corporation Ltd v. Peter Lombardo, Marino Sussich and Ray Landers, WIPO Case No. D2000-1511; Pepsico Inc v. Pepsi SRL and EMS COMPUTER INDUSTRY, WIPO Case No. D2003-0696; Pepsico Inc v. Diabetes Home care and DHC services, WIPO Case No. D2001-0174; Sony Kabushiki Kaisha v. Kil Inja WIPO Case No. D2000-1409; America Online Inc v. Chris Hoffman, WIPO Case No. D2001-1184).
(ii) The disputed domain name incorporates the word “buy” which is a common word which serves to describe the nature of the service offered on the relevant website and does not act to distinguish the disputed domain name from the Complainant’s trademark. (see Sanofi-Aventis v Ju Dehua, WIPO Case No. D2005-1043 and Guerlain SA v HI Investments, WIPO Case No. D2000-0494.
(iii) Similar considerations apply to the association in a domain name of the trademark ACOMPLIA and the descriptive term “Rimonabant”, since the latter is an International Nonproprietary Name (“INN”) for pharmaceutical substances. Such INN, (which is the active ingredient of Complainant’s product ACOMPLIA), has a chemical description and molecular/graphic formulae used by the health and pharmaceuticals industry and professionals. The addition of the INN “Rimonabant” to the ACOMPLIA trademark has been held insufficient to avoid confusing similarity under previous Panel decisions pronounced under the UDRP in similar situations (see Sanofi-Aventis v V. Link, WIPO Case No. D2004-0810 and Sanofi-Aventis v VSA Andrew King, WIPO Case No. 2007-0061 (<buy-acomplia-rimonabant.com>)).
(iv) On the basis of these different WIPO cases, there is no doubt that the association in a domain name of the trademark ACOMPLIA, the INN “Rimonabant” and the generic word “buy”, generates confusion. Indeed, persons accessing the domain name would be bound to believe that the domain name has a connection with the Complainant.
(vi) Consequently, because of the identity between the trademark ACOMPLIA and the disputed domain name, there is a high risk of confusion, since a consumer may think that the domain name directly refers to the Complainant’s product.
(ii) The Complainant’s trademark is present in 100 countries for ACOMPLIA, including Moldova, where the Respondent is located, and importantly, the Complainant’s trademarks are well-known throughout the world.
(iv) There is no licence, consent or other right by which the Respondent would have been entitled to register or use the domain name with the Complainant’s trademark ACOMPLIA together with generic words such as “buy” and the INN “Rimonabant”.
(vi) The Respondent does not use the domain name in connection with the bona fide offering of goods or services. The disputed domain name used by the Respondent, leads to an active web site where information about the ACOMPLIA product is provided and leads to on-line pharmacies where ACOMPLIA products or counterfeit products or placebo products and other competitive products are offered for sale.
(vii) The Respondent’s website is merely a portal for the website of a third party from which the Respondent is paid a commission. In such cases, the Respondent does not actually offer any “bona fide genuine goods or services”. In such circumstances many previous Panels decisions have stated that the respondent does not have any rights or legitimate interests in respect of the Complainant’s trademark (See, Mr. Olympia, LLC, American Media Operations, Inc., International Federation of BodyBuilders v. Tim Harrington, WIPO Case No. D2005-1287; Societe des Hotels Meridien v. Modern Limited Cayman Web Development, WIPO Case No. D2004-0321. See also, Lilly ICOS LLC v. Self, WIPO Case No. D2005-1099; Lilly ICOS LLC v. Cybernet Marketing/Antoine Tardif, WIPO Case No. D2006-1123).
(viii) Even if the Respondent was directly selling the genuine ACOMPLIA product (which is contested by the Complainant), many previous Panels have stated that it was not sufficient to give the Respondent a right or a legitimate interest to use the Complainant’s trademark in a domain name. See, for example, Stanley Works and Stanley Logistics Inc. v. Camp Creek WIPO Case No. D2000-0113, Motorola v. NewGate Internet WIPO Case No. D2000-0079; General Electric Company v. Japan, Inc, WIPO Case No D2001-0410; Dr. Ing. H.c.F. Porsche AG v. Limex, LLC, WIPO Case No. D2003-0649; Nokia Corporation v. Nokia Ringtones & Logos Hotline, WIPO Case No. D2001-1101; Sanofi-aventis v. VSA – Andrew King Case No. D2007-0061 and Amphenol .v. Applied Interconnect, WIPO Case No. D2001-0296; and Sanofi-aventis v. Chris Case No. D2007-0047).
(ix) It is clear that the Respondent, who has no legitimate interest in respect of the domain name <buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com>, has registered this domain name with the intention of diverting consumers and preventing the Complainant from reflecting the trademark in a corresponding domain name.
(x) The Respondent has not made bona fide use of the disputed domain name because of his lack of authorization to use the ACOMPLIA trademark and sell the ACOMPLIA medicine. Using domain names in order to divert consumers cannot be characterized as a fair use. (Trip.com v. Daniel Deamone, WIPO Case No. D2001-1066).
(c) the Respondent uses the domain name to attract for commercial gain internet users.
(ii) On February 16, 2004, the Complainant announced publicly the early results of two Phase III studies with ACOMPLIA through an information meeting, the contents of which were disseminated, the same day, on the Internet. On March, 9 2004, these results were presented for the first time to the scientific community at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting in New Orleans. During 2005-2006 (i) several scientific publications were published concerning ACOMPLIA, (such as the RIO-Lipids study published in The New England Journal of Medicine) and (ii) substantial information was made available on this revolutionary product notably on the internet. As obesity is becoming the number one health epidemic of the 21st century, there is no doubt that ACOMPLIA can be considered as a revolutionary medicine. The European Market Authorization concerning ACOMPLIA was granted in June 2006. On October 2006, the Acomplia medicine has been put, for the first time on the market, in the United Kingdom and Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
(iii) The Respondent, knowing the Complainant was planning to market a revolutionary drug in several territories under the name of ACOMPLIA, registered the disputed domain name on November 19, 2006.
(iv) Various panelists have considered that the fact of registering a domain name after the Complainant’s product launch leads to an inference of bad faith (see Medestea Internazionale S.r.l. v. Chris Gaunt, WIPO Case No. D2003-0011; America online Inc v. Chan Chunkwong, WIPO Case No. D2001-1043; Guardant Inc v. youngcho kim, WIPO Case No D2001-0043).
(v) There is no doubt that the Respondent knowing of the launch of a new product under the trademark ACOMPLIA by the Complainant, registered the disputed domain name in order to prevent the Complainant from adopting the trademark in a corresponding domain name. It is an opportunistic act, which seeks to disrupt the Complainant’s business.
(vi) The mere holding of a domain name that is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark belonging to a third party, in itself, can be considered as disrupting the business of the right owner.
(viii) There can be no doubt that the Respondent knew of the product, sold under the Complainant’s trademark ACOMPLIA, when he registered the domain name. This can be deduced from the construction of the domain name, consisting of the trademark ACOMPLIA of the Complainant, with the generic word “buy” and the INN “Rimonabant”, from the date of the domain name registration and from the content of the website.
(ix) The Respondent’s website provides information and offers opportunities to buy ACOMPLIA products or counterfeit products or placebo products related to the treatment of obesity. By using his website under the domain name <buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com> to sell ACOMPLIA medicine without any authorization, the Respondent is intentionally attempting for a commercial purpose to attract internet users to the Respondent’s website, and creates a likelihood of confusion with the Complainant’s trademark.
(x) The Respondent intentionally links the disputed domain name <buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com> with on-line pharmacies providing information on and offering opportunities to buy ACOMPLIA products or counterfeit products or placebo products and other competitors’ products related to the weight loss treatment. By using the website under the domain name <buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com> to lead Internet users to third party on-line pharmacies, the Respondent is intentionally attempting, for commercial purposes to attract Internet users to the Respondent’s website, and creates a likelihood of confusion with the Complainant’s trademark. One can easily assume that the Respondent does not insert for free such links which are redirecting Internet users to a website where competitors’ products for the treatment of obesity are offered for sale. The Respondent provided these links with the clear intention of commercial gain.
(xi) Any Internet user who accesses the Respondent’s website will believe that the ACOMPLIA medicine is available in all countries without any medical control, whereas, the ACOMPLIA medicine (i) has not been yet launched in all countries as this medicine has not been granted with all the administrative market authorizations required, (ii) and can only be obtained by medical prescription. The use of the domain name <buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com>, by redirecting Internet users to on-line pharmacies selling pharmaceuticals such as ACOMPLIA without requiring proof of a physical examination by an authorized doctor, is potentially harmful to the health of internet users who purchase ACOMPLIA products under the mistaken impression that they are dealing with the Complainant.
6.5 The disputed domain name <buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com> is confusingly similar to the ACOMPLIA trade mark in which the Complainant has rights.
6.6 The disputed domain name <buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com> is a combination of the ordinary English word “buy” together with the INN or generic name “rimonabant” for the active pharmaceutical ingredient and the coined word “acomplia”. The addition of the ordinary non-distinctive word “buy” to the word “acomplia” is not sufficient to avoid a finding of confusing similarity. The association of the generic INN name “rimonabant” with the trademark ACOMPLIA is again not sufficient to avoid a finding of confusing similarity. The name “rimonabant” would be recognized by the health and pharmaceutical industries and professionals as the descriptive name of the active ingredient of ACOMPLIA. The Complainant’s ACOMPLIA mark has been appropriated in its entirety. It is also likely that persons familiar with the Complainant’s ACOMPLIA products and marks would be confused or misled into thinking that the website “www.buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com” was an authorized site operated by the Complainant to provide information about its ACOMPLIA product because the use of the word “buy” in connection with the provision of information about a product or services is widespread, particularly in relation to websites which seek to sell products or services to Internet users.
6.7 The Respondent’s domain name incorporates the whole of the Complainant’s trade mark ACOMPLIA. The addition of a ccTLD or gTLD to the mark does not avoid confusing similarity. See, for example, F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG v. Macalve e-dominios S.A., WIPO Case No. D2006-0451; Telstra Corp Ltd v. Nuclear Marshmallows, WIPO Case No. D2000-0003 and the cases referred to in paragraph 5.1 (v) above. The generic top-level domain (gTLD) name “.com” is without legal significance since use of a gTLD is required of domain name registrants, “.com” is one of only several such gTLDs, and “.com” does not serve to identify a specific service provider or enterprise as a source of goods or services.
6.8 The incorporation of the entirety of the Complainant’s trade mark ACOMPLIA into the Respondent’s domain name <buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com> is bound to lead consumers familiar with the Complainant’s ACOMPLIA product and trade mark into the belief that the domain name is one belonging to the Complainant or that the Complainant has authorized or licensed the use of its trade mark to the Respondent. Consumers are thus likely to be confused as to the origin or sponsorship of the website www.buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com because the domain name is virtually identical and is thus confusingly similar to the Complainant’s trade mark ACOMPLIA in which the Complainant has rights.
6.9 The Panel accepts the Complainant’s submissions in relation to the disputed domain name <buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com> and finds for the Complainant on the first element.
6.11 It is highly unlikely that the Respondent devised the disputed domain name independently of and without knowledge of the Complainant’s ACOMPLIA product. Prior to registration of the disputed domain name, there had been widespread dissemination over the Internet about the Complainant’s ACOMPLIA product and the fact that it was used in the treatment of obesity generated public interest in it. Indeed, a major feature of the Respondent’s website is information about the Complainant’s ACOMPLIA product thus evidencing that the Respondent was well aware of the Complainant’s product and the trade mark by which it was known world-wide. This is reinforced by the fact that the Respondent’s website identifies the fact that ACOMPLIA is the trademark of the Complainant and that “rimonabant” is the generic name for the active ingredient.
6.12 The Respondent currently operates a website at “www.buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com”. This website contains a number of sponsored links to a variety of sites including some which appear to offer the Complainant’s ACOMPLIA product for sale while others link to sites which sell the products of the Complainant’s competitors as well as other non-competing products. In all likelihood the Respondent derives revenue from those websites which appear in the Respondent’s list of links. The Respondent does not appear to offer any goods or services of his own. Based on the evidence before the Panel,the use of the name <buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com>, being a name which is confusingly similar to the Complainant’s mark, is not fair use.
6.13 The use of a name which is confusingly similar to the Complainant’s mark as a domain name clearly extends beyond what is required to indicate the goods of the Complainant where these are legitimately being promoted and sold. Previous UDRP Panels have consistently held that persons who use marks in connection with what may be the genuine goods and services of the trade mark owner are not entitled on that basis alone to register and use domain names containing the trade mark, and particularly not where the domain name is used in connection with the promotion of goods or services other than those of the Complainant. See, for example: Hoffman-La Roche Inc. v. Viagra Propecia Xenical & More Online Pharmacy, WIPO Case No. D2003-0793 and Motorola, Inc. v. NewGate Internet, Inc., WIPO Case No. D2000-0079 and the cases referred to in paragraph 5.2 (viii) above.
6.14 Although the home page of the Respondent’s website contains a disclaimer stating that the site is not associated with or authorized by the Complainant, users who for the first time typed the domain name <buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com> would expect to arrive at a website of the Complainant or at least at a website related to it in some way. Having accessed the website they would then learn that the website was independent of the Complainant but by that time they might well be attracted by the amount of information provided by the Respondent about the ACOMPLIA product and by the links to other sites. The Respondent is thus using the reputation attached to the mark ACOMPLIA to attract users to his web site and is thus riding on the repute of the Complainant’s trademark for commercial gain. This conduct does not amount to exercising a right or legitimate interest in the domain name <buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com> (See Sanofi-Aventis v. Benjamin Milton, WIPO Case No. D2005-0544).
6.16 The Panel has already found that in all likelihood the Respondent selected the domain name in dispute knowing of the reputation of the ACOMPLIA trademark. Accordingly, the disputed domain name was registered in bad faith: America Online Inc v. Anson Chan, WIPO Case No. D2001-0004. In the present case, as various UDRP Panelists have found registration of a confusingly similar domain name after the Complainant’s product launch gives rise to an inference of bad faith: Medestea Internazionale S.r.l. v. Chris Gaunt, WIPO Case No. D2003-0011; America online Inc v. Chan Chunkwong, WIPO Case No. D2001-1043; Guardant Inc v. youngcho kim, WIPO Case No. D2001-0043).
6.18 According to paragraph 4(b)(iv) of the Policy, the use of a domain name, with the intention to attempt to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to a website or other on-line location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the Complainant’s trade mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of the disputed website or location or of a product or service on said website or location is regarded as evidence of bad faith.
6.19 The Panel is satisfied on the evidence that the Respondent knew of the ACOMPLIA product and trademark of the Complainant when he registered and used the disputed domain name. There is no natural connection between the mark ACOMPLIA and the Respondent. The Panel draws the conclusion that the most likely reason the Respondent chose the domain name was to associate himself and his business with that of the Complainant and to profit from the reputation of the Complainant’s trade mark and thereby to attract Internet users to his website.
6.20 The Panel concludes that by registering and using the disputed domain name, the Respondent intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to his website by creating a likelihood of confusion with the Complainant’s ACOMPLIA trademark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of the business through the use of the disputed domain name <buy-rimonabant-acomplia .com>. The Panel concludes that the Respondent registered and has used the disputed domain name in bad faith.
6.21 Furthermore, it is likely that some Internet users who access the Respondent’s website will believe that the ACOMPLIA product is available in all countries without any medical control, whereas it has not been yet launched in all countries and can only be obtained on medical prescription. The use of the domain name <buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com>, by redirecting such Internet users to on-line pharmacies selling pharmaceuticals such as ACOMPLIA without requiring proof of a physical examination by an authorized doctor, is potentially harmful to the health of such Internet users who purchase ACOMPLIA products under the mistaken impression that they are dealing with the Complainant. Previous WIPO UDRP Panelists have stated that selling or purchasing prescription medication without any doctor’s examination or prescription and consequently in violation of Public health regulations, can constitute evidence of the respondent’s bad faith: Lilly ICOS LLC v. Tudor Burden, WIPO Case No. D2004-0794.
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 <buy-rimonabant-acomplia.com> be transferred to the Complainant.

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