Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates, Ltd. v. Jackson
Enterprises c/o Domain Administrator
Claim Number: FA0609000808039
PARTIES
Complainant is Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates, Ltd. (“Complainant”), represented by Daniel D. Frohling, of Loeb & Loeb LLP, 321 North Clark St., Ste. 2300, Chicago, IL 60610, USA. Respondent is Jackson Enterprises c/o Domain Administrator (“Respondent”), represented by Daniel D. Frohling, of Loeb & Loeb LLP 321 North Clark St., Ste 2300, Chicago, IL 60610.
REGISTRAR AND DISPUTED DOMAIN NAME
The domain name at issue is <kendalljacksonwinery.com>,
registered with Nameview, Inc.
PANEL
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.
James A. Carmody, Esq., as Panelist.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Complainant submitted a Complaint to the National Arbitration Forum
electronically on September 28, 2006; the National Arbitration Forum received a
hard copy of the Complaint on September 29, 2006.
On October 2, 2006, Nameview, Inc. confirmed by e-mail to the National
Arbitration Forum that the <kendalljacksonwinery.com>
domain name is registered with Nameview, Inc. and that the Respondent is the
current registrant of the name. Nameview,
Inc. has verified that Respondent is bound by the Nameview, 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 October 11, 2006, a Notification of Complaint and Commencement of
Administrative Proceeding (the “Commencement Notification”), setting a deadline
of October 31, 2006 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@kendalljacksonwinery.com by e-mail.
A timely Response was received and determined to be complete on October
16, 2006.
On October 23, 2006, pursuant to Complainant’s
request to have the dispute decided by a single-member Panel, the National
Arbitration Forum appointed James A. Carmody, Esq., as Panelist.
RELIEF SOUGHT
Complainant requests that the domain name be transferred from
Respondent to Complainant.
PARTIES’ CONTENTIONS
A. Complainant makes the following assertions:
1. Respondent’s <kendalljacksonwinery.com> domain name is confusingly similar to Complainant’s KENDALL-JACKSON mark.
2. Respondent does not have any rights or legitimate interests in the <kendalljackson.com> domain name.
3. Respondent registered and has used the domain name at issue in bad faith.
B. Respondent
Respondent alleges that Respondent
and the Complainant are the same party in interest. Therefore, Respondent Jackson Enterprises does not contest the
Complaint and agrees to the transfer of the <kendalljacksonwinery.com> domain to Kendall-Jackson Wine
Estates, Ltd.
FINDINGS
It is
undisputed by the parties that, when Complainant originally filed the Complaint
on September 29, 2006, Respondent’s WHOIS information for the <kendalljacksonwinery.com>
domain name identified Respondent as “KENDALJACKSONWINERY.COM c/o Whois
Identity Shield.” One day after the
filing of the original Complainant, prior to Complainant’s filing of its
amended Complaint, the WHOIS information was updated to reflect “Jackson
Enterprises” as the registrant of the disputed domain name. As a result, it appears that Complainant and
Respondent are the same entity. The
WHOIS Registrant Contact Info for the disputed domain name, which is identical
to the contact information for Complainant, is further evidence that
Complainant and Respondent are one and the same. However,
Complainant still does not have access to or
control over the <kendalljacksonwinery.com> domain name. In light of the circumstances, Complainant,
acting as Respondent, chose to submit a Response to the Complainant agreeing to
transfer the disputed domain name.
Where
a Respondent agrees to the transfer of a disputed domain name, the disputed
domain name may be transferred immediately, and that a full analysis of the
Policy is not necessary. 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.”).
In
this case, it appears that Respondent has changed the registration information
to list Complainant as the registrant of the <kendalljacksonwinery.com>
domain name. Because the Respondent
now appears to be the same entity as Complainant, the panel finds that
Respondent has agreed to transfer the disputed domain name, and the Panel
decides to transfer the disputed domain name to Complainant. See Norgren, Inc. v. Norgen, Inc. c/o Domain
Adm’r, FA 670051 (Nat. Arb. Forum May 23, 2006) (transferring the disputed
domain name to the complainant without making any findings of fact where the
respondent had changed the registration information to the reflect the
complainant’s information, the complainant had received no verification that
the disputed domain name registration had actually been transferred to it, and
the complainant was left with no other choice than to amend its complaint to
list itself as the respondent of the disputed domain name).
DECISION
The Panel concludes that relief shall be GRANTED.
Accordingly, it is Ordered that the <kendalljacksonwinery.com>
domain name be TRANSFERRED from Respondent to Complainant.
James A. Carmody, Esq., Panelist
Dated: November 13, 2006
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