MUSIC Group IP Ltd. v. Cui Long
Claim Number: FA1410001585809
Complainant: MUSIC Group IP Ltd., of Road Town, Tortola, Virgin Islands, British.
Respondent: Cui Long, of Huzhou, Zhejiang, China.
REGISTRIES and REGISTRARS
Registries: NeuStar
Registrars: GoDaddy.com, LLC
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.
Jeffrey M. Samuels, as Examiner.
Complainant submitted: October 21, 2014
Commencement: October 22, 2014
Default Date: November 6, 2014
Having reviewed the communications records, the Examiner finds that the National Arbitration Forum has discharged its responsibility under usRS Procedure Paragraphs 3 and 4 and Rule 4 of the Rules for the .usTLD Rapid Suspension System (the "Rules").
Complainant requests that the domain name be suspended for the life of the registration.
Clear and convincing evidence.
Complainant MUSIC Group IP Ltd., formerly known as Red Chip Company Ltd., has been using the BEHRINGER trademarks worldwide in conjunction with pro-audio products and musical instruments for more than 25 years. Complainant owns numerous national trademark registrations for marks that incorporate the term BEHRINGER, including U.S. Registration Nos. 3,103,001, 2,692,478, 4,176,238, and 3,128,660.
On September 10, 2014, Complainant received an email from Respondent wherein Respondent offered to sell Complainant the domain name in dispute, behringer.us, for $2500 (US). On September 12, 2014, Complainant responded to the email through a “cease and desist” letter. Respondent replied by offering to sell the disputed domain name to Complainant for $1,000 (US). A final “cease and desist” letter was sent to Respondent on September 16, 2014.
Even though the Respondent has defaulted, usRS Procedure 1.2.6, requires Complainant to make a prima facie case, proven by clear and convincing evidence, for each of the three elements identified below to obtain an order that a domain name should be suspended.
The Examiner concludes that Complainant has established, through clear and convincing evidence that each of the required elements has been satisfied. The evidence establishes that the disputed domain name is, for all intents and purposes, identical to a mark in which Complainant holds a valid national registration, that Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests (a review of a screenshot of Respondent’s behringer.us site indicates that “[t]his webpage is not available”), and that the domain name was registered or is being used in bad faith. With respect to the “bad faith” requirement, the evidence clearly establishes that Respondent/Registrant registered the disputed domain name primarily for the purpose of selling it to Complainant for valuable consideration in excess of documented out-of-pocket costs. See usRS1.2.6.3.
After reviewing the Complainant’s submissions, the Examiner determines that
the Complainant has demonstrated all three elements of the usRS by a standard of clear and convincing evidence. The Examiner hereby Orders the following domain name be SUSPENDED for the duration of the registration: behringer.us
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Jeffrey M. Samuels, Examiner
Dated: November 12, 2014
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