Foot Locker Retail v. Jonas Kropf
Claim Number: FA1612001708664
Complainant: Foot Locker Retail of New York, New York, United States of America.
Complainant Representative:
Complainant Representative: Kelley Drye & Warren LLP of New York, New York, United States of America.
Respondent: Jonas Kropf of Olten, SO, International, CH.
Respondent Representative: «cFirstName» «cMiddle» «cLastName»
REGISTRIES and REGISTRARS
Registries: XYZ.COM LLC
Registrars: GoDaddy.com, LLC
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.
Piotr Nowaczyk, as Examiner.
Complainant submitted: December 20, 2016
Commencement: December 20, 2016
Default Date: January 4, 2017
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") .
Complainant requests that the domain name be suspended for the life of the registration.
Clear and convincing evidence.
There are no multiple complainants or respondents and no extraneous domain names require dismissal.
The Complainant, Food Locker Retail, Inc. is a retailer of athletic footwear, apparel and related goods and services in the United States.
The Complainant owns all rights, title, and interest in and to the well-known and incontestable FOOT LOCKER marks (U.S. Reg. No. 3810824 and 1126857), registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The Complainant currently uses the FOOT LOCKER marks in commerce throughout the United States. The Complainant’s marks and related goods and services are known throughout the world by virtue of their longstanding use and the Complainant’s extensive promotion and advertising.
The Complainant contends that the Respondent’s domain name, <footlocker.xyz>, is identical or confusingly similar to the FOOT LOCKER mark, and was registered and is being used in bad faith by the Respondent who has no rights or legitimate interests in the Domain Name.
The Domain Name was registered on December 16, 2016 and is being used as a link farm with links for sneakers and shoes.
Even though the Respondent has defaulted, URS Procedure 1.2.6, requires the Complainant
to make a prima facie case, proven by clear and convincing
evidence, for each of the following three elements to obtain an order that a
domain name should be suspended.
IDENTICAL OR CONFUSINGLY SIMILAR
The Complainant has proved its right to the valid US trademark registrations for words FOOT LOCKER. There are no doubts that the FOOT LOCKER mark is in current use. The relevant part of the Domain Name is <footlocker>, as the added top-level domain – being a required element of every domain name – is generally irrelevant when assessing whether or not a mark is identical or confusingly similar and in this case does nothing to distinguish the Domain Name from the Complainant’s trademark. In this light, the Examiner finds the Domain Name is identical to the Complainant’s mark.
Therefore, the Complainant met the standard sets out in paragraph 1.2.6.1. of the URS Procedure.
NO RIGHTS OR LEGITIMATE INTERESTS
The Respondent does not have any rights in the name “Foot Locker” nor is the Respondent commonly known by this name. Moreover, the Complainant has not authorized Respondent’s use of its mark and has no affiliation with the Respondent.
Accordingly, in the absence of any evidence to support a possible basis on which the Respondent may have rights or legitimate interests in respect of the Domain Name, the Examiner accepts the Complainant’s unrebutted prima facie case and concludes the standard set out in paragraph 1.2.6.2. of the URS Procedure is satisfied.
BAD FAITH REGISTRATION AND USE
The Respondent has registered the Domain Name in bad faith since he knew or must have known about the Complainant's famous and reputable mark when registering <footlocker.xyz>.
Moreover, the Domain Name is being used as a link farm with links for sneakers and shoes which creates likelihood of confusion with the FOOT LOCKER marks. This mean that the Domain Name is being used in bad faith, thus the standard set out in paragraph 1.2.6.3.(d) of the URS Procedure is satisfied.
After reviewing the Complainant’s 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.
<footlocker.xyz>
Piotr Nowaczyk, Examiner
Dated: January 06, 2017
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