National Arbitration Forum

 

DECISION

 

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company v. Secure Whois Information Service c/o DNS Admin

Claim Number: FA0702000910715

 

PARTIES

Complainant is Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (“Complainant”), represented by Heidi C. Constantine, of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, 1 MetLife Plaza, 27-01 Queens Plaza North, Long Island City, NY 11101.  Respondent is Secure Whois Information Service c/o DNS Admin (“Respondent”), represented by Victoria Onyos, 56 Man Gir, Barcelona 08034, Spain.

 

 

REGISTRAR AND DISPUTED DOMAIN NAME 

The domain name at issue is <metfife.com>, registered with Name.Net LLC.

 

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.

 

David E. Sorkin as Panelist.

 

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Complainant submitted a Complaint to the National Arbitration Forum electronically on February 5, 2007; the National Arbitration Forum received a hard copy of the Complaint on February 5, 2007.

 

On February 6, 2007, Name.Net LLC confirmed by e-mail to the National Arbitration Forum that the <metfife.com> domain name is registered with Name.Net LLC and that the Respondent is the current registrant of the name.  Name.Net LLC has verified that Respondent is bound by the Name.Net LLC 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 February 9, 2007, a Notification of Complaint and Commencement of Administrative Proceeding (the “Commencement Notification”), setting a deadline of March 1, 2007 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@metfife.com by e-mail.

 

A Response, captioned “Response / Stipulation of Transfer,” was received in hard copy on March 1, 2007.  Respondent failed to submit an electronic version of the Response to the Forum at the address specified in the Forum’s Supplemental Rule 5(a).  The electronic version of the Response apparently was sent instead to the registrar, which forwarded it to the Forum on March 1, 2007.  The Panel deems any procedural deficiencies in the submission of the Response to be inconsequential.

 

On March 7, 2007, pursuant to Complainant’s request to have the dispute decided by a single-member Panel, the National Arbitration Forum appointed David E. Sorkin as Panelist.

 

On March 8, 2007, the Panel entered a procedural order noting Respondent’s request that the Panel enter an order transferring the disputed domain name to Complainant without findings of fact on the elements set forth in Paragraph 4(a) of the Policy, and directing Complainant to file any objections to that request no later than March 15, 2007.  Complainant did not file an objection pursuant to the Panel’s procedural order.

 

RELIEF SOUGHT

Complainant requests that the domain name be transferred from Respondent to Complainant.

 

PARTIES’ CONTENTIONS

In light of Respondent’s request that the Panel enter an order transferring the disputed domain name to Complainant without findings of fact on the elements set forth in Paragraph 4(a) of the Policy, and the lack of any objection thereto, the Panel declines to set forth or address the Parties’ contentions.

 

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

In light of Respondent’s aforementioned request and the lack of any objection thereto, the Panel declines to enter findings in this matter, and grants the Parties’ request that the disputed domain name be transferred to Complainant.

 

DECISION

The Panel concludes that relief shall be GRANTED.

 

Accordingly, it is Ordered that the <metfife.com> domain name be TRANSFERRED from Respondent to Complainant.

 

 

David E. Sorkin, Panelist
Dated:  March 21, 2007

 

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