URS FINAL DETERMINATION

 

IBM Corporation v. - et al.

Claim Number: FA1510001642487

 

DOMAIN NAME

<ibm.website>

 

PARTIES

Complainant: IBM Corporation of Armonk, New York, United States of America.

 

Respondent: - of Aglantzia, NICOSIA, International, CY.

 

Engineer of Nicosia, Cyprus.

 

n/a of Aglantzia, Unknown, Cyprus.

 

REGISTRIES and REGISTRARS

Registries: DotWebsite Inc.

Registrars: eNom, Inc.

 

EXAMINER

The undersigned certifies that he or she has acted independently and impartially and to the best of his or her knowledge has no known conflict in serving as Examiner in this proceeding.

 

Eleni Lappa, as Examiner.

 

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Complainant submitted: October 15, 2015

Commencement: October 15, 2015     

Response Date: October 26, 2015

 

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") .

 

RELIEF SOUGHT

Complainant requests that the domain name be suspended for the life of the registration.

 

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Clear and convincing evidence.

 

FINDINGS and DISCUSSION

 

The complainant owns a series of IBM trademarks which are registered in various jurisdictions worldwide, including Cyprus. Due to their long-standing and extensive use the complainant’s IBM trademark has achieved the status of a world-famous trademark, which enjoys extended protection (i.e. for goods and services extending beyond those covered by each of the listed in the complaint trademark registrations). The respondent has submitted no proof of registered or unregistered rights on the acronym IBM, either as a trademark or a distinguishing feature of origin, or even as a name.

 

URS Procedure 1.2.6, requires Complainant to prove, by clear and convincing evidence, each of the following three elements to obtain an order that a domain name should be suspended. Namely:

 

The registered domain name(s) is/are identical or confusingly similar to a word or mark [URS/.usRS 1.2.6.1]: for which the Complainant holds a valid national or regional registration and that is in current use 2. Registrant has no legitimate right or interest to the domain name [URS/.usRS 1.2.6.2] 3. [if URS] The domain name(s) was/were registered and are being used in bad faith [URS 1.2.6.3] such as: [if .usRS] The domain name(s) was/were registered or are being used in bad faith [.usRS 1.2.6.3] such as: Registrant has registered or acquired the domain name primarily for the purpose of selling, renting or otherwise transferring the domain name registration to the complainant who is the owner of the trademark or service mark or to a competitor of that complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of documented out-of pocket costs directly related to the domain name.

 

All three of the above three prerequisites are satisfied for the suspension of the domain name at issue <ibm.website>, and in particular:

a.    It is evident that the domain name <ibm.website> is identical and/or confusingly similar to the prior registered rights of the complainant on the trademark IBM currently in use.

b.    Registrant has no legitimate right or interest to the domain name IBM: the respondent’s assertion that the services/goods purported to be offered by the website <ibm.website>  would be different to those offered by the complainant is dismissed as irrelevant:

i.              because the IBM trademark of the complainant is world famous and as such enjoys extended protection notwithstanding any potential similarity or not of respectively offered services/goods by the complainant and the respondent (the latter offering no substantive proof of what the purported services/goods were to be in any case aide from the particular argumentation) and

ii.             ii. the actually pertinent issue according to the relevant URS provisions, is whether or not any actual rights exist on the part of the respondent in relation to the acronym IBM and no such evidence were offered by the respondent. The domain name <ibm.website> was registered and used in bad faith by the respondent who attempted to obtain an arbitrary amount from complainant in order to surrender the domain name at issue.

 

 

 

 

DETERMINATION

After reviewing the parties’ 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.

 

<ibm.website>

 

 

 

 

Eleni Lappa, Examiner

Dated:  October 26, 2015