Lockheed Martin Corporation v. WhoisGuard, Inc.
Claim Number: FA1801001766163
Complainant: Lockheed Martin Corporation of Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
Complainant Representative:
Complainant Representative: McDermott Will & Emery LLP of Irvine, California, United States of America.
Respondent: WhoisGuard, Inc. of Panama, Panama, International, PA.
Respondent Representative:
REGISTRIES and REGISTRARS
Registries: Fox Castle, LLC; Steel Falls, LLC
Registrars: NameCheap, 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 Examiner in this proceeding.
Petter Rindforth, as Examiner.
Complainant submitted: January 9, 2018
Commencement: January 10, 2018
Default Date: January 25, 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.
Findings of Fact:
The Complainant is the owner of the following U.S. trademark registration:
No. 2759221 SKUNK WORKS (word), first used in commerce March 31, 1989, registered on September 2, 2003, and renewed for the first time on August 4, 2013, covering “clothing and headgear, namely, sweatshirts, t-shirts, tank tops, polo shirts, shorts, baseball caps, tops, bottoms, jackets and ties” in Intl Class 25.
The Complainant has provided evidence of use of the trademark, as registered by the Trademark Clearinghouse.
The disputed domain names <skunkworks.agency> and <skunkworks.services> were registered on August 18, 2017.
There is no information on the Respondent, other than provided by the Complainant.
Legal Findings and Conclusion:
Even though the Respondent has defaulted, URS Procedure 1.2.6, requires Complainant to make a prima facie case, proven by clear and convincing evidence, for each of the following three elements to obtain an order that a domain name should be suspended.
IDENTICAL OR CONFUSINGLY SIMILAR
The Complainant met the standard sets out in 1.2.6.1. of the URS Procedure since the Complainant has proved its right to the valid U.S. trademark registration No. 2759221 SKUNK WORKS (word), a trademark that is in current use.
The relevant part of the disputed domain names is <skunkworks>, as the added top-level domains – being a required element of every domain name – are generally irrelevant when assessing whether or not a mark is identical or confusingly similar and in this case does nothing to distinguish the disputed domain names from the Complainant’s trademark.
Further, the Respondent does not dispute the Complainant’s trademark rights.
The Examiner concludes that both disputed domain names are confusingly similar to the Complainant's trademark SKUNK WORKS.
NO RIGHTS OR LEGITIMATE INTERESTS
The Respondent does not have any rights in <skunkworks.agency> or <skunkworks.services>, as the Complainant has not authorized the Respondent to register a domain name containing its registered and used trademark SKUNK WORKS, nor is the Respondent commonly known by any of the disputed domain names, has not engaged in demonstrable preparations to use the Domain Names with a bona fide offering of goods or services, and is not making legitimate non-commercial or fair use of <skunkworks.agency> or <skunkworks.services>.
As SKUNK WORKS is a distinctive and well known trademark, the Examiner also draw the conclusion that the Complainant has shown that the Respondent cannot have any legitimate interests in registering and using <skunkworks.agency> or <skunkworks.services>.
To summarize, the Examiner find that the Complainant has established that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in any of the disputed domain names <skunkworks.agency> or <skunkworks.services>.
BAD FAITH REGISTRATION AND USE
As proved by the Complainant, the SKUNK WORKS trademark is used and well-known. The trademark SKUNK WORKS is also registered with the Trademark Clearinghouse on January 3, 2017, meaning that the Respondent has registered <skunkworks.agency> and <skunkworks.services> despite receiving notification that the domain names matched a trademark registered with the Trademark Clearinghouse.
The use of the top-level domains “.agency” and “.services” also indicates that the Respondent, by the time of registration, was well aware of the nature and use of the trademark SKUNK WORKS, and wanted to indicate that the disputed domain names had some relation with the Complainant, either as a confirmed agency, re-seller or even a service apartment of the Complainant.
Further, the fact that Respondent has not replied to the Complainants demand letters of August 30, 2017 and November 17, 2017, also indicates that the Respondent registered both disputed domain names in bad faith.
As shown by the Complainant, both <skunkworks.agency> and <skunkworks.services> links to inactive web sites displaying the same error message, “This site can’t be reached”, with the further message “www.skunkworks.agency refused to connect” and “www.skunkworks.services refused to connect”. Although this is a message stating that there are no active/functional web sites connected to any of the disputed domain names, the general surfer / Internet user, seeking for information from and about the Complainant, may well draw the conclusion that he or she has reached the Complainants main web page/s that seems to be non-functional.
Although the Respondent has not responded, the said use as such strongly indicates that the Respondent has registered and is using <skunkworks.agency> and <skunkworks.services> in a way that is clearly negative for the Complainant, in order to force the Complainant to offer to buy them for valuable consideration in excess of documented out-of pocket costs directly related to the domain names.
Thus, the Examiner concludes that the Complainant has established that the Respondent has registered and used <skunkworks.agency> and <skunkworks.services> in bad faith.
After reviewing the Complainant’s 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.
<skunkworks.agency> and <skunkworks.services>
Petter Rindforth, Examiner
Dated: January 26, 2018
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