Deluxe Corporation v. RGnames
Claim Number: FA0204000112601
PARTIES
Complainant
is Deluxe Corporation, Shoreview,
MN, USA (“Complainant”) represented by Linda
M. Byrne, of Merchant & Gould
P.C. Respondent is RGnames, Seoul, SOUTH KOREA
(“Respondent”) represented by Choi Byeong-guk,
of WangJin XinCheng Xi-yuan.
The
domain name at issue is <deluxe.biz>,
registered with Wooho T & C Co.
d/b/a RGnames.
The
undersigned certifies that he has acted independently and impartially and to
the best of his knowledge, has no known conflict in serving as Panelist in this
proceeding.
G.
Gervaise Davis III, Esq., is the single Panelist.
Complainant
has standing to file a Start-up Trademark Opposition Policy (“STOP”) Complaint,
as it timely filed the required Intellectual Property (IP) Claim Form with the
Registry Operator, NeuLevel. As an IP
Claimant, Complainant timely noted its intent to file a STOP Complaint against
Respondent with the Registry Operator, NeuLevel and with the National
Arbitration Forum (the “Forum”).
Complainant
submitted a Complaint to the Forum electronically on April 25, 2002; the Forum
received a hard copy of the Complaint on April 26, 2002.
On
May 1, 2002, a Notification of Complaint and Commencement of Administrative
Proceeding (the “Commencement Notification”), setting a deadline of May 21,
2002 by which Respondent could file a Response to the Complaint, was
transmitted to Respondent in compliance with paragraph 2(a) of the Rules for
the Start-up Trademark Opposition Policy (the “STOP Rules”).
A
timely Response was received and determined to be complete on May 15, 2002.
Complainant
submitted additional submissions after the deadline on May 24, 2002. Respondent also submitted a late additional
submission on May 24, 2002.
On June 24, 2002, pursuant to STOP Rule 6(b), the Forum
appointed G. Gervaise Davis III, Esq.,
as the single Panelist.
After submission of the case to the Panel and during
consideration of it, the Panel issued an Order, dated August 5, 2002, directing
the Respondent and RGNames to explain in writing, under oath, the apparent
conflict created by the fact that RGNames appears as the registered owner of
the domain name <deluxe.biz>, while Choi Byeongguk, who is listed as the
contact person on the records, responded as the authorized representative of
the owner of the domain, Ms. Youngmi Park. The Order asked for certain
information, discussed below, and provided for time in which the parties could
respond.
On August 14, 2002, RGNames responded that it was not
the Registrant, and that Ms. Youngmi Park was, in fact, the owner, pursuant to
a consignment agreement between RGNames and Park, a copy of which was furnished
to the Forum, the Panel and the Complainant.
Ms. Park also confirmed by email to the Forum that she was the
registrant and Respondent in the case, per the email and fax from RGNames. Under the circumstances, the Panel has
treated this as a Complaint against the true registrant Youngmi Park, even
though RGNames is listed as the Respondent.
Transfer
of the domain name from Respondent to Complainant.
A.
Complainant
The
Complainant, Deluxe® Corporation (“Deluxe”), owns businesses that provide
checks, business forms, labels, self-inking stamps, fraud prevention services,
and customer retention programs. These
products and services are provided to banks, credit unions, financial services
companies, consumers, and small businesses.
These businesses reach their respective customers through a number of
distribution channels, including direct mail, the telephone, the Internet, and
a nationwide sales force.
Deluxe®
has been using the DELUXE® name in connection with its printed bank checks and
related products since at least 1915.
Deluxe has invested substantial sums of money in developing and
marketing its business under the DELUXE® mark and has developed substantial
goodwill and customer loyalty under this trademark. Deluxe enjoys a strong reputation among its customers for high
quality products and services. Deluxe
is the market leader in its industry for bank checks and business forms.
Deluxe
owns several recent U.S. Federal Trademark Registrations for the word mark
DELUXE® or containing the word DELUXE in a stylized mark, both of which are in
International Class 16.
On March 27, 2002, the Respondent ("RGNames") registered the
domain name <deluxe.biz>.
Complainant alleges that this domain name is identical to the Deluxe marks
owned by it, and that the Respondent has no statutory or common law trademark
rights or any other right or legitimate interest to the mark DELUXE® or in the
infringing domain name <deluxe.biz>. Complainant further asserts that the Respondent has registered
and used the domain name in bad faith and that Respondent has registered the
domain name primarily for the purpose of commercial gain by attracting traffic
from potential on-line customers of Complainant. Complainant provides no evidence of either of the latter claims
beyond its assertions that Respondent
is not making a legitimate, non-commercial or fair use of the domain name. It
argues that the website of the Registrar of the domain, at <www.wooho.com> does not show Respondent’s
business listed.
Complainant’s entire evidence on the
issue of bad faith registration appears limited to this undocumented and
unsupported claim:
“It appears that Respondent’s primary
purpose in registering and using the domain name is to mislead and divert web
traffic intended for Deluxe Corporation.
The only conceivable reason for Respondent to have registered the <deluxe.biz>
domain name is to misappropriate Deluxe's goodwill or to sell the domain name
to Deluxe Corporation.”
B.
Respondent
Although
RGNames is listed as the Respondent, for the reasons explained in the
introduction and history of this case, the Panel has accepted the fact that the
true Respondent is Youngmi Park, and proceeded accordingly. Respondent is apparently a Korean woman who
has recently moved to Beijing, China where she claims to operate, together with
her husband, Byeong-guk Choi, a real estate sales and leasing business under
the name “Deluxe.” As evidence of her
right to use the name Deluxe, she submitted a certified Notarized Korean form
showing the use of the business name Deluxe since 1993 in Korea, which lists
her husband as the owner and proprietor of this business as of 2002. Although she has obvious difficulties with
the English language, she makes a strong argument for her right to use this
.biz domain, since it does not conflict with Complainant’s use and is a generic
and descriptive word.
She
denies registering the domain name in bad faith and points out that she has not
offered it for sale, does not in any way compete with Complainant’s check
printing business, and alleges that she intends to continue to use it in the
business she and her husband have owned since 1993. She states she has never heard of the Deluxe check company, and
points out that there are over 2,460,000 references to the generic word
“Deluxe” in the Yahoo search engine listings.
She also references the fact that there are literally hundreds of other
domains using the word “Deluxe,” and points out that the whole purpose of ICANN
establishing and permitting additional TLD’s was to permit other businesses
with the same name to have an Internet presence. She acknowledges that Complainant has registered and uses
<deluxe.com> as its Internet business address, as well as other domains
using that word.
Respondent cites, to support her case,
the <internetnews.info> case, where another Panel denied a requested
transfer because common words and marks are intended to be available under the
new TLD’s for use by others as new domains and because the words or marks at
issue there were “not considered unusual or to require imaginative capacity or
special sophistication.” INT Media
Group, Inc. v. Vergara, D2002- 0249, (WIPO May 16, 2002).
SUPPLEMENTAL PLEADINGS AND PANEL ORDER
Both
the Complainant and the Respondent filed Supplemental Briefs, which, however,
were both filed after the deadlines set by the STOP Policy. Because they seem to add little to the
disposition of this case and because as a matter of policy encouraging such
filings could lead to further delays in what is intended as a summary
proceeding, the Panel declines to consider them, although they were carefully
read in their entirety.
However,
because of an apparent inconsistency as to whom the actual owner of the domain
name at issue was, the Panel issued the August 5, 2002, Order seeking further
information on this issue. While the
responses by RGNames and Ms. Park did not fully comply with the request of the
Panel, in that they were not under oath, the information provided on August 13
and 14, 2002, by RGNames and Ms. Park did clarify the situation. The essence of the response was that Ms.
Park had asked RGNames to handle the registration of a group of names for her,
and in the process, RGNames registered the domain <deluxe.biz> but
inadvertently used its own name as the owner/registrant, and has been unable to
correct the situation since once a STOP complaint is filed, the records cannot
be changed until a decision by the Panel is rendered.
Under
the circumstances, the Panel will accept this explanation, which understandably
confused both the Complainant and the Panel at the outset of the case and
caused the Respondent to be named as RGNames.
The fact that Ms. Park was at the time apparently registering a whole
series of .biz domain names raises some question in the mind of the Panel as to
the bona fide nature of the whole process described in the consignment
agreement, but since the Panel is not authorized to conduct a trial of
collateral issues in this summary proceeding, this decision is limited to the
facts at hand. This Panel decision is
expressly made without prejudice to the right of Complainant to raise such
issues in any subsequent court proceedings that may take place in the future.
A. The
domain name <deluxe.biz> is substantially identical to the
Complainant’s registered word mark “Deluxe,” although it is not identical to
Complainant’s registered logo which actually consists of a stylized letter “D”
and the word “Deluxe.”
B. Respondent has established that prior to
registration of the domain name in question, she and her husband have been
using the name Deluxe as a business name, which meets the minimal requirements
of STOP Policy ¶ 4(c)(iii) that does not require it be a registered trademark,
unlike some UDRP Policy cases have held concerning other TLD’s.
C. Complainant has produced no evidence that
Respondent registered the domain in bad faith or for any illegal purposes under
the STOP Rules.
Paragraph 15(a) of the STOP Rules instructs this Panel
to “decide a complaint on the basis of the statements and documents submitted
in accordance with the Policy, these Rules and any rules and principles of law
that it deems applicable.”
Paragraph
4(a) of the STOP Policy requires that the Complainant must prove each of the
following three elements to obtain an order that a domain name should be
transferred:
(1)
the domain
name is identical to a trademark or service mark in which the Complainant has
rights; and
(2) the Respondent has no rights or
legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and
(3)
the domain name has been registered or is being used in bad faith.
Due
to the common authority of the ICANN policy governing both the Uniform Domain
Name Dispute Resolution Policy (“UDRP”) and these STOP proceedings, the Panel
will exercise its discretion to rely on relevant UDRP precedent where
applicable.
Under
the STOP proceedings, a STOP Complaint may only be filed when the domain name
in dispute is identical to a trademark or service mark for which a Complainant
has registered an Intellectual Property (IP) claim form. Therefore, every STOP proceeding necessarily
involves a disputed domain name that is substantially identical to a trademark
or service mark in which a Complainant asserts rights. The existence of the “.biz” generic
top-level domain (gTLD) in the disputed domain name is not a factor for
purposes of determining that a disputed domain name is not identical to the
mark in which the Complainant asserts rights.
Complainant’s
Rights in the Mark
Complainant
clearly has rights to the mark “Deluxe” within its Class 16 field of use, based
on its two recently registered U.S. trademarks. However, the Panel rejects Complainant’s argument that somehow
these registrations preclude any other business or person from registering or
using the generic and usually descriptive word “Deluxe” for another business
name or domain name. The mark is
neither distinctive nor famous, apart from its particular use in the check printing
business, and Complainant surely has no exclusive rights in the word “Deluxe,”
apart from its stylized logos in its line of business.
The
Panel notes that a quick search of the U.S. Trademark database indicates some
29 entries for the single word “Deluxe” and 553 entries with combinations of
the word “Deluxe” and other words. Of these entries, only two relate to
Complainant’s business. The mere fact
that the domain at issue is similar to Complainant’s marks does not give
exclusive rights to Complainant in any domain name with similar words,
especially under these circumstances where the parties are in no way engaged in
similar businesses and, at least at present, are doing business in totally
different continents.
One
of the primary reasons for the opening up of the .biz TLD was to provide other
businesses, not in conflict with a trademark owner, with an opportunity to use
the .biz and other new domains for businesses with names similar to other
business owners. See, what is
essentially the “legislative history” concerning the purpose of these new
gTLD’s quoted in more detail in Newport
Corp. v. Newport Electronics Inc., FA 114325 (Nat. Arb. Forum July 8,
2002), to the effect that “Addition of
new gTLDs will allow different companies to have the same second-level domain
name in different TLDs. Those
businesses will have to compete based on price, quality and service, rather
than the happenstance of which company locked up the most desirable domain name
first.”
Based
on this historical fact, alone, the Panel could decide this case in favor of
the Respondent, but there are additional reasons that will be discussed for
purposes of completeness.
The Panel is impressed with the arguments
of Respondent, who has also presented formal documentation of prior use of the
term “Deluxe” in her family business, even while struggling with a language not
native to her. The STOP Policy provides
that it is a defense to a domain name claim if the Respondent shows evidence of
prior use of a business name with the mark, even if it is not a registered
trademark, and Respondent’s documented evidence meets that requirement. STOP Policy ¶ 4(c)(iii).
Complainant, on the other hand, presents
no evidence and merely makes the unsupported statement that Respondent has no
rights to the name and may not be using it currently. Furthermore, Complainant’s argument that the Registrar’s
website makes no mention of the mark is unavailing, since the Registrar
merely registers the domain name – it does not operate the Respondent’s
business and there is no reason whatsoever that its website would reference a
domain owned by a Respondent.
Complainant’s understandable confusion on this issue is the reason the
Panel required the Respondent to explain this apparent inconsistency, which now
appears to have been clarified. Prior
to this clarification, Complainant initially equated the Registrar with the
Respondent Youngmi Park, the billing contact and party that responded here
through her authorized representative.
Respondent Youngmi Park does not yet have a website since Respondent
cannot use the new domain name while the STOP Policy case is pending and the
Registrar cannot transfer the domain to Ms. Park until this decision clarifies
the rights of the parties in the name.
The Panel believes the Complainant has
failed to carry its burden of demonstrating that Respondent has no rights in
the domain name.
As noted above, this Panel also agrees
with Respondent that the whole purpose of the additional TLDs authorized by
ICANN was to provide other businesses with an opportunity to use a domain name
already in use at the .com, .org and .net TLD.
This is obviously the reason that the STOP Policy makes prior use of the
name in a business a defense to the charge of bad faith registration.
Because Complainant’s failure to carry
the burden of proof on the second issue also dooms its case, the Panel could
also stop here again, but to round out the case, we point out that Complainant
has likewise failed to carry its burden of showing registration or use in bad
faith by Respondent. Merely alleging
bad faith from the simple fact of registration does not meet this burden. Some evidence is required. Cf.,
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. v. Benstein, FA 102962 (Nat. Arb. Forum Feb.
27, 2002) “unsupported, self-serving allegations alone are insufficient to
establish that [the] Respondent has rights or legitimate interests in respect
to the domain name at issue.”
Here Complainant has provided no evidence
of likely confusion, efforts to sell the domain name to Complainant or a
competitor, inability of it to use the Internet because of Respondent’s
registration of the domain at issue, or any other aspect that would show bad
faith on the part of Respondent.
Complainant seems to believe that merely asserting bad faith is
sufficient to demonstrate bad faith. It
is not. Respondent has illustrated many reasons for its registration of the
domain and the valid public policies behind allowing additional TLD’s such as
the .biz extension.
In the judgment of the Panel Respondent
is not guilty of bad faith registration and there has been no use yet, so that
cannot be shown either. Complainant’s
case fails on this issue, as well.
DECISION
Accordingly, the Complainant’s request
that the domain name <deluxe.biz> be transferred to it is denied. For a similar result, based on similar facts
involving another generic term used as a trademark, see Dial Corp. v.
Swarthmore Assoc., LLC, DBIZ2002-0102,
(WIPO, June 30, 2002).
However, in light of the issue, not
resolved in this case, of why Respondent was registering a whole series of .biz
names, in addition to <deluxe.biz>, the Panel rules that
subsequent challenges to the use of the domain name by Respondent shall be
permitted by other parties in the future.
G. Gervaise Davis III, Esq., Panelist
Dated: August 23, 2002
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