Licensing IP International S.à.r.l. v. Andrei Ivanov
Claim Number: FA2101001930487
Complainant is Licensing IP International S.à.r.l. (“Complainant”), represented by ROBIC, LLP, Canada. Respondent is Andrei Ivanov (“Respondent”), Russia.
REGISTRAR AND DISPUTED DOMAIN NAMES
The domain names at issue are <pornxhub.me>, <porhub.space>, <youporn.miami>, <youporn.plus>, <youporn.uno>, <youporn.one>, <hot-youporn.net>, registered with Danesco Trading Ltd.; Namecheap, Inc..
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.
Debrett G. Lyons as Panelist.
Complainant submitted a Complaint to the Forum electronically on January 30, 2021; the Forum received payment on January 30, 2021.
On February 1, 2021; February 2, 2021, Danesco Trading Ltd.; Namecheap, Inc. confirmed by e-mail to the Forum that the <pornxhub.me>, <porhub.space>, <youporn.miami>, <youporn.plus>, <youporn.uno>, <youporn.one>, <hot-youporn.net> domain names are registered with Danesco Trading Ltd.; Namecheap, Inc. and that Respondent is the current registrant of the names. Danesco Trading Ltd.; Namecheap, Inc. has verified that Respondent is bound by the Danesco Trading Ltd.; Namecheap, Inc. registration agreement and has thereby agreed to resolve domain disputes brought by third parties in accordance with ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy”).
On February 9, 2021, the Forum served the Complaint and all Annexes, including a Written Notice of the Complaint, setting a deadline of March 1, 2021 by which Respondent could file a Response to the Complaint, via e-mail to all entities and persons listed on Respondent’s registration as technical, administrative, and billing contacts, and to postmaster@pornxhub.me, postmaster@porhub.space, postmaster@youporn.miami, postmaster@youporn.plus, postmaster@youporn.uno, postmaster@youporn.one, postmaster@hot-youporn.net. Also on February 9, 2021, the Written Notice of the Complaint, notifying Respondent of the e-mail addresses served and the deadline for a Response, was transmitted to Respondent via post and fax, to all entities and persons listed on Respondent’s registration as technical, administrative and billing contacts.
Having received no response from Respondent, the Forum transmitted to the parties a Notification of Respondent Default.
On March 5, 2021, pursuant to Complainant's request to have the dispute decided by a single-member Panel, the Forum appointed Debrett G. Lyons as Panelist.
Having reviewed the communications records, the Administrative Panel (the "Panel") finds that the Forum has discharged its responsibility under Paragraph 2(a) of the Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the "Rules") "to employ reasonably available means calculated to achieve actual notice to Respondent" through submission of Electronic and Written Notices, as defined in Rule 1 and Rule 2. Therefore, the Panel may issue its decision based on the documents submitted and in accordance with the ICANN Policy, ICANN Rules, the Forum's Supplemental Rules and any rules and principles of law that the Panel deems applicable, without the benefit of any response from Respondent.
Complainant requests that the domain name be transferred from Respondent to Complainant.
A. Complainant
Complainant asserts trademark rights in both PORNHUB and YOUPORN and alleges that the disputed domain names are confusingly similar to one or the other of its trademarks.
Complainant alleges that Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain names.
Complainant alleges that Respondent registered and used the disputed domain names in bad faith.
B. Respondent
Respondent failed to submit a Response in this proceeding.
The factual findings pertinent to the decision in this case are that:
1. Complainant does business in the online adult entertainment market by reference, inter alia, to the trademarks PORNHUB and YOUPORN, which are the subject, respectively, of United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) Reg. No. 4,220,491 registered on October 9, 2012 and Reg. No. 3,534,702, registered November 18, 2008;
2. the disputed domain name was registered on the following dates:
<pornxhub.me> (May, 4, 2014);
<porhub.space> (March, 12, 2020);
<youporn.miami> (April 28, 2020);
<youporn.plus> (June 16, 2020);
<youporn.uno> (March 18, 2020);
<youporn.one> (June 3, 2020); and
<hot-youporn.net> (May, 8, 2017).
3. the domain names all resolve to competitive websites; and
4. there is no commercial agreement between the parties and Complainant has not authorized Respondent to use its trademarks or to register any domain name incorporating its trademarks.
Paragraph 15(a) of the Rules instructs this Panel to "decide a complaint on the basis of the statements and documents submitted in accordance with the Policy, these Rules and any rules and principles of law that it deems applicable."
Paragraph 4(a) of the Policy requires that Complainant must prove each of the following three elements to obtain an order that a domain name should be cancelled or transferred:
(1) the domain name registered by Respondent is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which Complainant has rights; and
(2) Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and
(3) the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.
In view of Respondent's failure to submit a response, the Panel shall decide this administrative proceeding based on Complainant's undisputed representations pursuant to paragraphs 5(f), 14(a) and 15(a) of the Rules and draw such inferences it considers appropriate pursuant to paragraph 14(b) of the Rules. The Panel is entitled to accept all reasonable allegations and inferences set forth in the Complaint as true unless the evidence is clearly contradictory (see, for example, Vertical Solutions Mgmt., Inc. v. webnet-marketing, inc., FA 95095 (Forum Jul. 31, 2000) holding that the respondent’s failure to respond allows all reasonable inferences of fact in the allegations of the complaint to be deemed true; Talk City, Inc. v. Robertson, D2000-0009 (WIPO Feb. 29, 2000) (“In the absence of a response, it is appropriate to accept as true all allegations of the Complaint.”)
Paragraph 4(a)(i) of the Policy requires a two-fold enquiry—a threshold investigation into whether a complainant has rights in a trademark, followed by an assessment of whether the disputed domain name is identical or confusingly similar to that trademark.
Paragraph 4(a)(i) of the Policy does not distinguish between registered and unregistered trademark rights. Proof of registration of the trademark with a national trademark authority is adequate proof of trademark rights. Here Complainant provides evidence of its USPTO registrations for PORNHUB and YOUPORN and so the Panel finds that Complainant has trademark rights in those terms (see, for example, DIRECTV, LLC v. The Pearline Group, FA 1818749 (Forum Dec. 30, 2018) (“Complainant’s ownership of a USPTO registration for DIRECTV demonstrate its rights in such mark for the purposes of Policy ¶ 4(a)(i).”)).
For the purposes of comparison, the various TLDs of the disputed domain names can be disregarded (see, for example, Bittrex, Inc. v. Privacy protection service - whoisproxy.ru, FA 1759828 (Forum Jan. 12, 2018) (“The Panel here finds that the <bittrex.market> domain name is identical to the BITTREX mark under Policy ¶4(a)(i).”)). The comparison is then between the trademarks and:
pornxhub
porhub
youporn
hot-youporn
The Panel finds that the domain names are either identical to the trademark, or confusingly similar thereto, being either a trivial misspelling of the trademark or merely hyphenating a non-distinctive word to the trademark (see, for example, Microsoft Corporation v. Thong Tran Thanh, FA 1653187 (Forum Jan. 21, 2016) finding that confusing similarity exists where a disputed domain name contains Complainant’s entire mark and differs only by the addition of a generic or descriptive phrase and the top-level domain; Bank of America Corporation v. Above.com Domain Privacy, FA 1629452 (Forum Aug. 18, 2015) finding <blankofamerica.com> confusingly similar to complainant’s BANK OF AMERICA mark.
The Panel finds that Complainant has satisfied the requirements of paragraph 4(a)(i) of the Policy.
Paragraph 4(c) of the Policy states that any of the following circumstances, in particular but without limitation, if found by the Panel to be proved, based on its evaluation of all evidence presented, shall demonstrate rights or legitimate interests to a domain name for purposes of paragraph 4(a)(ii) of the Policy:
(i) before any notice to you of the dispute, your use of, or demonstrable preparations to use, the domain name or a name corresponding to the domain name in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services; or
(ii) you (as an individual, business, or other organization) have been commonly known by the domain name, even if you have acquired no trademark or service mark rights; or
(iii) you are making a legitimate noncommercial or fair use of the domain name, without intent for commercial gain to misleadingly divert consumers or to tarnish the trademark or service mark at issue.
Complainant need only make out a prima facie case that Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain names, after which the onus shifts to Respondent to rebut that case by demonstrating those rights or interests (see, for example, Do The Hustle, LLC v. Tropic Web, D2000‑0624 (WIPO Aug. 21, 2000).
The publicly available WHOIS information shielded the domain name holder but in consequence of these proceedings the name of the underlying registrant (Respondent) was disclosed as “Andrei Ivanov”. That name does not provide any prima facie evidence that Respondent might be commonly known by any of the disputed domain names. There is no evidence that Respondent has any trademark rights and Complainant states that it has not given Respondent permission to use the trademarks for any purpose. The disputed domain names resolve to adult entertainment sites. Such use does not constitute a legitimate interest or give rights and the Panel finds that Complainant has made a prima facie case (see, for example, Vanguard Trademark Holdings USA LLC v. Dan Stanley Saturne, FA 1785085 (Forum June 8, 2018) (“Respondent’s use of the disputed domain names does not amount to a bona fide offering of goods or services or a legitimate noncommercial or fair use” where “Respondent is apparently using the disputed domain names to offer for sale competing services.”).
The onus shifts to Respondent to establish a legitimate interest in the domain names. In the absence of a Response, that prima facie case is not met and so Panel finds that Respondent has no rights or interests and so finds that Complainant has satisfied the second limb of the Policy.
Complainant must prove on the balance of probabilities both that the disputed domain names were registered and used in bad faith.
Further guidance on that requirement is found in paragraph 4(b) of the Policy, which sets out four circumstances, any one of which is taken to be evidence of the registration and use of a domain name in bad faith if established.
The four specified circumstances are:
(i) circumstances indicating that the respondent 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 the respondent’s documented out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name; or
(ii) the respondent has registered the domain name in order to prevent the owner of the trademark or service mark from reflecting the mark in a corresponding domain name, provided that Respondent has engaged in a pattern of such conduct; or
(iii) the respondent has registered the domain name primarily for the purpose of disrupting the business of a competitor; or
(iv) by using the domain name, respondent has intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to respondent’s website or other on-line location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant’s mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of the respondent’s website or location or of a product or service on the site or location.
On the evidence, the Panel finds bad faith under subparagraph (iv) above. The Panel has already found the disputed domain names to be either identical or confusingly similar to the relevant trademarks. Confusion is inevitable. The use of the disputed domain names is for commercial gain in some form or another. The Panel finds registration and use of the domain name in bad faith and so finds that Complainant has satisfied the third and final element of the Policy (see, for example, Xylem Inc. and Xylem IP Holdings LLC v. YinSi BaoHu YiKaiQi, FA1504001612750 (Forum May 13, 2015) (“The Panel agrees that Respondent’s use of the website to display products similar to Complainant’s, imputes intent to attract Internet users for commercial gain, and finds bad faith per Policy ¶ 4(b)(iv).”)).
Having established all three elements required under the ICANN Policy, the Panel concludes that relief shall be GRANTED.
Accordingly, it is Ordered that the <pornxhub.me>, <porhub.space>, <youporn.miami>, <youporn.plus>, <youporn.uno>, <youporn.one>, and <hot-youporn.net> domain names be TRANSFERRED from Respondent to Complainant.
Debrett G. Lyons, Panelist
Dated: March 8, 2021
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