General Mills, Inc. v.
Claim Number: FA0810001228658
PARTIES
Complainant is General Mills, Inc. (“Complainant”), represented by Chet
F. Garner, of Fulbright & Jaworski,
REGISTRAR AND DISPUTED DOMAIN NAMES
The domain names at issue are <piilsbury.com>, <pilllsbury.com>
and <kixcereal.com>,
registered with Compana, LLC.
PANEL
The undersigned certifies that he or she has acted independently and
impartially and to the best of his or her knowledge has no known conflict in
serving as Panelist in this proceeding.
Bruce E. O’Connor as Panelist.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
This decision is being rendered in accordance with ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy”), the Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Rules”), and the National Arbitration Forum’s UDRP Supplemental Rules (the “Supplemental Rules”).
Complainant submitted a Complaint to the National Arbitration Forum
electronically on October 9, 2008; the
National Arbitration Forum received a hard copy of the Complaint on October 10, 2008.
On October 13, 2008, Compana, LLC confirmed by e-mail to the
National Arbitration Forum that the <piilsbury.com>, <pilllsbury.com>
and <kixcereal.com>
domain names are registered with Compana, LLC
and that the Respondent is the current registrant of the names. Compana, LLC
has verified that Respondent is bound by the Compana,
LLC registration agreement and has thereby agreed to resolve domain-name
disputes brought by third parties in accordance with the Policy.
On October 14, 2008, a
Notification of Complaint and Commencement of Administrative Proceeding (the
“Commencement Notification”), setting a deadline of November 3, 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@piilsbury.com, postmaster@pilllsbury.com and postmaster@kixcereal.com by e-mail.
A timely Response was received and determined to be complete on November 3, 2008.
On November 6, 2008, pursuant to Complainant’s
request to have the dispute decided by a single-member Panel, the National
Arbitration Forum appointed Bruce E. O’Connor as Panelist.
RELIEF SOUGHT
Complainant requests that the domain names be transferred from
Respondent to Complainant.
PARTIES’ CONTENTIONS
A. Complainant
Complainant is the owner of the famous trademarks PILLSBURY and KIX.
Respondent has no rights or legitimate interest in the domain names at
issue.
Respondent registered and has used those domain names in bad faith.
B. Respondent
Respondent agrees to the relief requested by Complainant. Respondent does not make an admission of the
three elements of ¶ 4(a) of the Policy, but offers a “unilateral consent to
transfer.”
FINDINGS
Both Complainant and Respondent agree to
transfer of the domain names in dispute from Respondent to Complainant.
DISCUSSION
After the initiation
of this proceeding, the registrar, Compana LLC, placed a hold on Respondent’s account and therefore Respondent cannot
transfer the disputed domain names while this proceeding is still pending. Where
Respondent has not contested the transfer of the disputed domain names, but
instead agrees to transfer the domain names in question to Complainant, the
Panel may forego the traditional UDRP analysis and order an immediate transfer
of the <piilsbury.com>, <pilllsbury.com> and <kixcereal.com> domain
names. See Boehringer Ingelheim Int’l GmbH
v. Modern Ltd. – Cayman Web Dev., FA 133625 (Nat. Arb. Forum Jan. 9, 2003)
(transferring the domain name registration where the respondent stipulated to
the transfer); see also Malev Hungarian Airlines, Ltd. v. Vertical Axis Inc.,
FA 212653 (Nat Arb. Forum Jan. 13, 2004) (“In this case, the parties have both
asked for the domain name to be transferred to the Complainant . . . Since
the requests of the parties in this case are identical, the Panel has no scope
to do anything other than to recognize the common request, and it has no mandate
to make findings of fact or of compliance (or not) with the Policy.”); see
also Disney Enters., Inc. v. Morales, FA 475191 (Nat. Arb. Forum June 24,
2005) (“[U]nder such circumstances, where Respondent has agreed to comply with
Complainant’s request, the Panel felt it to be expedient and judicial to forego
the traditional UDRP analysis and order the transfer of the domain
names.”).
Other UDRP proceedings involving this very
Respondent and accepting the Respondent’s consent to transfer are: California
Academy of Sciences v. Texas Int’ Prop. Assocs., FA 944494 (Nat. Arb. Forum May
15, 2007); The Orvis Co. Inc. v.
DECISION
Respondent having consented to transfer, the Panel concludes that
relief shall be GRANTED.
Accordingly, it is Ordered that the <piilsbury.com>, <pilllsbury.com>
and <kixcereal.com> domain
names be TRANSFERRED from Respondent to Complainant.
Bruce E. O’Connor Panelist
Dated: November 20, 2008
Click Here to return
to the main Domain Decisions Page.
Click
Here to return to our Home Page
National
Arbitration Forum