Citigroup Inc. v. Vista.com, Inc.
Claim Number: FA0808001220431
Complainant is Citigroup Inc. (“Complainant”), represented by Paul
D. McGrady, of Greenberg Traurig, LLP,
REGISTRAR AND DISPUTED DOMAIN
NAME
The domain name at issue is <citifinancialplanning.com>, registered with Wild West Domains, Inc.
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.
The Honorable Charles K. McCotter, Jr. (Ret.) as Panelist.
Complainant submitted a Complaint to the National Arbitration Forum electronically on August 13, 2008; the National Arbitration Forum received a hard copy of the Complaint on August 14, 2008.
On August 14, 2008, Wild West Domains, Inc. confirmed by e-mail to the National Arbitration Forum that the <citifinancialplanning.com> domain name is registered with Wild West Domains, Inc. and that Respondent is the current registrant of the name. Wild West Domains, Inc. has verified that Respondent is bound by the Wild West Domains, Inc. registration agreement and has thereby agreed to resolve domain-name disputes brought by third parties in accordance with ICANN's Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the "Policy").
On August 15, 2008, a Notification of Complaint and Commencement of Administrative Proceeding (the "Commencement Notification"), setting a deadline of September 4, 2008 by which Respondent could file a response to the Complaint, was transmitted to Respondent via e-mail, post and fax, to all entities and persons listed on Respondent's registration as technical, administrative and billing contacts, and to postmaster@citifinancialplanning.com by e-mail.
Having received no response from Respondent, the National Arbitration Forum transmitted to the parties a Notification of Respondent Default.
On September 14, 2008, pursuant to Complainant's request to have the dispute decided by a single-member Panel, the National Arbitration Forum appointed the Honorable Charles K. McCotter, Jr. (Ret.) as Panelist.
Having reviewed the communications records, the Administrative Panel (the "Panel") finds that the National Arbitration Forum has discharged its responsibility under Paragraph 2(a) of the Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the "Rules") "to employ reasonably available means calculated to achieve actual notice to Respondent." Therefore, the Panel may issue its decision based on the documents submitted and in accordance with the ICANN Policy, ICANN Rules, the National Arbitration Forum's Supplemental Rules and any rules and principles of law that the Panel deems applicable, without the benefit of any response from Respondent.
Complainant requests that the domain name be transferred from Respondent to Complainant.
A. Complainant makes the following assertions:
1. Respondent’s <citifinancialplanning.com> domain name is confusingly similar to Complainant’s CITIFINANCIAL mark.
2. Respondent does not have any rights or legitimate interests in the <citifinancialplanning.com> domain name.
3. Respondent registered and used the <citifinancialplanning.com> domain name in bad faith.
B. Respondent failed to submit a Response in this proceeding.
Complainant, Citigroup Inc., is an international financial services company that owns an extensive family of famous trademarks and service marks for a variety of financial products. One of those marks is CITIFINANCIAL, registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) (Reg. No. 2,961,903 issued May 17, 2005) for financial services, namely consumer lending, credit, financing, and credit insurance services.
Respondent’s <citifinancialplanning.com> domain name was registered on March 13, 2006 and currently resolves to a website featuring competing financial services.
Paragraph 15(a) of the 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."
In view of Respondent's failure to submit a response, the Panel shall decide this administrative proceeding on the basis of Complainant's undisputed representations pursuant to paragraphs 5(e), 14(a) and 15(a) of the Rules and draw such inferences it considers appropriate pursuant to paragraph 14(b) of the Rules. The Panel is entitled to accept all reasonable allegations and inferences set forth in the Complaint as true unless the evidence is clearly contradictory. See Vertical Solutions Mgmt., Inc. v. webnet-marketing, inc., FA 95095 (Nat. Arb. Forum July 31, 2000) (holding that the respondent’s failure to respond allows all reasonable inferences of fact in the allegations of the complaint to be deemed true); see also Talk City, Inc. v. Robertson, D2000-0009 (WIPO Feb. 29, 2000) (“In the absence of a response, it is appropriate to accept as true all allegations of the Complaint.”).
Paragraph 4(a) of the Policy requires that Complainant must prove each of the following three elements to obtain an order that a domain name should be cancelled or transferred:
(1) the domain name registered by Respondent is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which Complainant has rights; and
(2) Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and
(3) the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.
Complainant has sufficiently established rights in the
CITIFINANCIAL mark through its registration of the mark with the USPTO pursuant
to Policy ¶ 4(a)(i). See
Reebok Int’l Ltd. v.
The <citifinancialplanning.com> domain name
consists of Complainant’s CITIFINANCIAL mark in its entirety followed by the
descriptive term “planning” and the generic top-level domain (“gTLD”)
“.com.” Previous panels have held that a
gTLD is irrelevant to a Policy ¶ 4(a)(i) analysis. See
Isleworth Land Co. v. Lost in Space, SA,
FA 117330 (Nat. Arb. Forum Sept. 27, 2002) (“[I]t is a well established
principle that generic top-level domains are irrelevant when conducting a
Policy ¶ 4(a)(i) analysis.”). Moreover, the inclusion of a term that is
descriptive of the services provided under a given mark does not distinguish a
disputed domain name from that mark. See Am.
Express Co. v. MustNeed.com, FA 257901 (Nat. Arb. Forum June 7, 2004)
(finding the respondent’s <amextravel.com> domain name confusingly
similar to Complainant’s AMEX mark because the “mere addition of a generic or
descriptive word to a registered mark does not negate” a finding of confusing
similarity under Policy ¶ 4(a)(i)). For
both of these reasons, the Panel finds the <citifinancialplanning.com>
domain name to be confusingly similar to Complainant’s CITIFINANCIAL mark
pursuant to Policy ¶ 4(a)(i). See Whitney
Nat’l Bank v. Easynet Ltd, FA 944330 (Nat. Arb. Forum Apr. 30, 2007) (“The
additions of generic words with an obvious relationship to Complainant’s
business and a gTLD renders the disputed domain name confusingly similar to
Complainant’s mark pursuant to Policy ¶ 4(a)(i).”).
The Panel concludes that Complainant has satisfied Policy ¶ 4(a)(i).
Before a panel may conduct a Policy ¶ 4(a)(ii) analysis, the
complainant must establish a prima facie
case that the respondent lacks rights and legitimate interests in the disputed
domain name. See VeriSign Inc. v. VeneSign
Respondent has failed to respond to the Complaint. Therefore, the Panel presumes that Respondent
lacks all rights and legitimate interests in the disputed domain name, but will
continue to examine the record in consideration of the elements listed under
Policy ¶ 4(c). See Geocities v. Geociites.com, D2000-0326 (WIPO June 19, 2000)
(finding that the respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the
domain name because the respondent never submitted a response or provided the
panel with evidence to suggest otherwise); see
also Law Soc’y of Hong Kong v. Domain
Strategy, Inc., HK-0200015 (ADNDRC Feb. 12, 2003) (“A respondent is
not obligated to participate in a domain name dispute . . . but the failure to
participate leaves a respondent vulnerable to the inferences that flow
naturally from the assertions of the complainant and the tribunal will accept
as established assertions by the complainant that are not unreasonable.”).
Complainant contends that at no time has it authorized or
otherwise granted permission to Respondent to use its CITIFINANCIAL mark in any
way. Additionally, the WHOIS information
for the disputed domain name lists Respondent as “Vista.com, Inc.” This gives no indication that Respondent is
or ever was commonly known by the disputed domain name. The Panel finds that Respondent is not
commonly known by the <citifinancialplanning.com> domain name
pursuant to Policy ¶ 4(c)(ii). See IndyMac Bank F.S.B. v. Eshback,
FA 830934 (Nat. Arb. Forum Dec. 7, 2006) (finding that the respondent failed to
establish rights and legitimate interests in the <emitmortgage.com>
domain name as the respondent was not authorized to register domain names
featuring the complainant’s mark and failed to submit evidence of that it is
commonly known by the disputed domain name); see also Reese v. Morgan, FA
917029 (Nat. Arb. Forum Apr. 5, 2007) (concluding that the respondent was not
commonly known by the <lilpunk.com> domain name as there was no evidence
in the record showing that the respondent was commonly known by that domain
name, including the WHOIS information as well as the complainant’s assertion
that it did not authorize or license the respondent’s use of its mark in a
domain name).
The <citifinancialplanning.com> domain name resolves to a competing financial services website. When Internet users enter the disputed domain name into their web browsers, they are directed to a website containing an advertisement for competing financial services. The Panel finds that this use constitutes neither a bona fide offering of goods or services pursuant to Policy ¶ 4(c)(i) nor a legitimate noncommercial or fair use pursuant to Policy ¶ 4(c)(iii). See Computerized Sec. Sys., Inc. v. Hu, FA 157321 (Nat. Arb. Forum June 23, 2003) (“Respondent’s appropriation of [Complainant’s] SAFLOK mark to market products that compete with Complainant’s goods does not constitute a bona fide offering of goods and services.”); see also Ameritrade Holdings Corp. v. Polanski, FA 102715 (Nat. Arb. Forum Jan. 11, 2002) (finding that the respondent’s use of the disputed domain name to redirect Internet users to a financial services website, which competed with the complainant, was not a bona fide offering of goods or services).
The Panel concludes that Complainant has satisfied Policy ¶ 4(a)(ii).
The <citifinancialplanning.com> domain name
resolves to a website purporting to offer services or enter into business in
the financial services industry. This
directly competing use of the disputed domain name establishes that Respondent
registered and is using the disputed domain name in bad faith pursuant to
Policy ¶ 4(b)(iii). See DatingDirect.com Ltd. v.
Aston, FA 593977 (Nat. Arb. Forum Dec. 28,
2005) (“Respondent is appropriating Complainant’s mark to divert Complainant’s
customers to Respondent’s competing business.
The Panel finds this diversion is evidence of bad faith registration and
use pursuant to Policy ¶ 4(b)(iii).”); see
also Jerie v. Burian, FA 795430 (Nat. Arb. Forum
Oct. 30, 2006) (concluding that the respondent registered and used the
<sportlivescore.com> domain name in order to disrupt the complainant’s
business under the LIVESCORE mark because the respondent was maintaining a
website in direct competition with the complainant).
Furthermore, the Panel presumes that Respondent must
financially benefit from this commercial use of the <citifinancialplanning.com>
domain name. Therefore, in consideration
of the confusing similarity between the disputed domain name and Complainant’s
mark and the presumption that this commercially benefits Respondent, the Panel
finds this to be additional evidence of Respondent’s bad faith registration and
use pursuant to Policy ¶ 4(b)(iv). See
Allianz of Am. Corp. v. Bond,
FA 680624 (Nat. Arb. Forum June 2, 2006) (finding bad faith
registration and use under Policy ¶ 4(b)(iv) where the respondent was diverting
Internet users searching for the complainant to its own website and likely
profiting); see also Carey Int’l, Inc. v. Kogan, FA
486191 (Nat. Arb. Forum July 29, 2005) (“[T]he Panel finds that Respondent is
capitalizing on the confusing similarity of its domain names to benefit from
the valuable goodwill that Complainant has established in its marks. Consequently, it is found that Respondent
registered and used the domain names in bad faith under Policy ¶ 4(b)(iv).”)
The Panel concludes that Complainant has satisfied Policy ¶ 4(a)(iii).
Having established all three elements required under the ICANN Policy, the Panel concludes that relief shall be GRANTED.
Accordingly, it is Ordered that the <citifinancialplanning.com> domain name be TRANSFERRED from Respondent to Complainant.
The Honorable Charles K. McCotter, Jr. (Ret.), Panelist
Dated: September 22, 2008
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