Coachella Music Festival, LLC v. Bob Ponce
Claim Number: FA1712001762513
Complainant: Coachella Music Festival, LLC of Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
Complainant Representative: Tucker Ellis, LLP of Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
Respondent: Bob Ponce of Gilbert, Arizona, United States of America.
Complainant Representative: ALCARAZ TOCCHINI LLP of Phoenix, Arizona, United States of America.
Bob Ponce of Gilbert, Arizona, US.
Complainant Representative: ALCARAZ TOCCHINI LLP of Phoenix, Arizona, United States of America.
REGISTRIES and REGISTRARS
Registries: Pearl Woods, LLC
Registrars: GoDaddy.com, LLC
The undersigned certifies that he has acted independently and impartially and to the best of his or her knowledge has no known conflict in serving as Examiner in this proceeding.
James Bridgeman, as Examiner
Complainant submitted: December 12, 2017
Commencement: December 13, 2017
Response Date: January 3, 2018
Having reviewed the communications records, the Examiner finds that the Forum has discharged its responsibility under URS Procedure Paragraphs 3 and 4 and Rule 4 of the Rules for the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (the "Rules") .
Complainant requests that the domain name be suspended for the life of the registration.
Clear and convincing evidence.
URS Procedure 1.2.6, requires Complainant to prove, by clear and convincing evidence, each of the following three elements to obtain an order that a domain name should be suspended.
Complainant has provided clear and convincing evidence that it is the registered owner of USPTO service mark COACHELLA, registration number 3,196,119 registered on January 9, 2007 before the disputed domain name was registered. The disputed domain name is confusingly similar to Complainant’s registered service mark COACHELLA mark because the disputed domain name merely combines the Coachella Mark with the words “tickets” and “today.” The addition of a generic or descriptive word “tickets” does nothing to distinguish the domain name from the mark. Insofar as it is relevant, neither does the generic top level domain name extension and “.today” serve to distinguish the name and mark in any way.
Respondent in Response has not provided any evidence that he has any legitimate rights or interest in the disputed domain name. Complainant has not given Respondent permission to use its Coachella mark. Respondent is not known by the domain name. Respondent’s use is not a bona fide noncommercial use.
Respondent uses the domain name to redirect consumers looking for Complainant and its festival, to Respondent’s own commercial website. Respondent’s commercial website unlawfully sells tickets to directly competitive music events, and unlawfully sells or resells passes to Complainant’s music festival. Passes to Complainant’s Coachella Music Festival are revocable licenses which cannot be commercially resold
The registration and commercial use of a confusingly similar domain name to redirect consumers to a website offering services in direct competition to Complainant’s services satisfies the bad faith requirements of ¶ 4(b)(iv) of the Policy.
After reviewing the parties’ submissions, the Examiner determines that the Complainant has demonstrated all three elements of the URS by a standard of clear and convincing evidence; the Examiner hereby Orders the following domain names be SUSPENDED for the duration of the registration.
<coachellatickets.today>
James Bridgeman, Examiner
Dated: January 04, 2018
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