National Arbitration Forum

 

DECISION

 

The Orvis Company, Inc. v. Texas International Property Associates

Claim Number: FA0704000954151

 

PARTIES

Complainant is The Orvis Company, Inc. (“Complainant”), represented by Sandra M. Koenig, of Fay Sharpe LLP, 1100 Superior Avenue, Seventh Floor, Cleveland, OH 44114-2579.  Respondent is Texas International Property Associates (“Respondent”), represented by Gary Wayne Tucker, of Law Office of Gary Wayne Tucker, PO Box 703431, Dallas, TX 75370.

 

REGISTRAR AND DISPUTED DOMAIN NAME

The domain name at issue is <orvistravel.com>, registered with Compana, 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.

 

James A. Carmody, Esq., as Panelist.

 

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

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

 

On April 19, 2007, Compana, LLC confirmed by e-mail to the National Arbitration Forum that the <orvistravel.com> domain name is registered with Compana, LLC and that Respondent is the current registrant of the name.  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 ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy”).

 

On April 24, 2007, a Notification of Complaint and Commencement of Administrative Proceeding (the “Commencement Notification”), setting a deadline of May 14, 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@orvistravel.com by e-mail.

 

A timely Response was received and determined to be complete on May 14, 2007.

 

On May 21, 2007, 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 <orvistravel.com> domain name, the domain name at issue, is confusingly similar to Complainant’s registered ORVIS mark and its common law ORVIS TRAVEL mark.

 

2.      Respondent does not have any rights or legitimate interests in the domain name at issue.

 

3.      Respondent registered and used the domain name at issue in bad faith.

 

B.   Respondent submitted a Response which does not contest any of Complainant’s allegations regarding the <orvistravel.com> domain name. 

 

PRELIMINARY ISSUE: Consent to Transfer the Subject Domain Name

Respondent does not contest any of Complainant’s allegations regarding the <orvistravel.com> domain name.  Rather, Respondent has consented to a ruling in favor of Complainant and has authorized the immediate transfer of the domain name at issue.  In a circumstance such as this, it is appropriate for the Panel to forego the traditional UDRP analysis and order the immediate transfer of the domain name.  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.”).

 

DECISION

Therefore, the Panel concludes that relief shall be GRANTED.

 

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

 

 

 

James A. Carmody, Esq., Panelist
Dated: May 31, 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

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