DECISION

 

Epic Games, Inc. v. Gibson Aust

Claim Number: FA2601002198210

 

PARTIES

Complainant is Epic Games, Inc. ("Complainant"), represented by Sloan L. E. Carpenter of Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP, North Carolina, USA. Respondent is Gibson Aust ("Respondent"), Utah, USA.

 

REGISTRAR AND DISPUTED DOMAIN NAME

The domain name at issue is <freevbucks4.me>, ("the Domain Name") registered with Dynadot Inc.

 

PANEL

The undersigned certifies that they have acted independently and impartially and to the best of their knowledge have no known conflict in serving as Panelist in this proceeding.

 

Dawn Osborne as Panelist.

 

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Complainant submitted a Complaint to Forum electronically on January 6, 2026; Forum received payment on January 6, 2026.

 

On January 7, 2026, Dynadot Inc confirmed by e-mail to Forum that the <freevbucks4.me> Domain Name is registered with Dynadot Inc and that Respondent is the current registrant of the name. Dynadot Inc has verified that Respondent is bound by the Dynadot 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 January 9, 2026, Forum served the Complaint and all Annexes, including a Written Notice of the Complaint, setting a deadline of January 29, 2026 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@freevbucks4.me. Also on January 9, 2026, 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, Forum transmitted to the parties a Notification of Respondent Default.

 

On January 30, 2026 pursuant to Complainant's request to have the dispute decided by a single-member Panel, Forum appointed Dawn Osborne as Panelist.

 

Having reviewed the communications records, the Administrative Panel (the "Panel") finds that 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, Forum's Supplemental Rules and any rules and principles of law that the Panel deems applicable, without the benefit of any response from Respondent.

 

RELIEF SOUGHT

Complainant requests that the Domain Name be transferred from Respondent to Complainant.

 

PARTIES' CONTENTIONS

A. Complainant

The Complainant's contentions can be summarised as follows:

 

The Complainant is the owner of the trademark V-BUCKS registered, inter alia, in the USA for computer programs featuring virtual currency since 2019. It sells virtual currency called V-BUCKS in its games.

 

The Domain Name registered in 2025 is confusingly similar to the Complainant's mark adding only generic terms "free", the number "4" and the ccTLD .me for Montenegro and deleting the hyphen from the Complainant's mark, none of which prevents such confusing similarity.

 

The Respondent does not have any rights or legitimate interests in the Domain Name, is not commonly known by the Domain Name and is not authorised by the Complainant. The Domain Name points to a site purporting to offer free "Vbucks" in exchange for user name information. The offering of competing and counterfeit V-BUCKS violates the Complainant's terms of use for its computer game and is not a bona fide offering of goods or services or a legitimate non commercial or fair use. It is bad faith registration and use intentionally confusing Internet Users for commercial gain and disrupting the Complainant's business in full knowledge of the Complainant's rights and in breach of the terms and conditions of the Complainant's computer game.

 

B. Respondent

Respondent failed to submit a Response in this proceeding.

 

FINDINGS

The Complainant is the owner of the trade mark V-BUCKS registered, inter alia, in the USA for computer programs featuring virtual currency since 2019.

 

The Domain Name registered in 2025 points to a site purporting to offer free "Vbucks" in exchange for log in information.

 

DISCUSSION

Paragraph 15(a) of the Rules instructs this Panel to "decide a complaint on the basis of the statements and documents submitted and 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 on the basis of 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 set forth in a complaint; however, the Panel may deny relief where a complaint contains mere conclusory or unsubstantiated arguments. See WIPO Jurisprudential Overview 3.0 at ¶ 4.3; see also eGalaxy Multimedia Inc. v. ON HOLD By Owner Ready To Expire, FA 157287 (Forum June 26, 2003) ("Because Complainant did not produce clear evidence to support its subjective allegations [. . .] the Panel finds it appropriate to dismiss the Complaint").

 

Identical and/or Confusingly Similar

The Domain Name in this Complaint combines the Complainant's V-BUCKS mark (registered, inter alia, in the USA for computer games featuring virtual currencies since 2019) with the generic term "free", the number "4" and the ccTLD .me, omitting the hyphen from the Complainant's mark.

 

Previous panels have found confusing similarity when a respondent merely adds a generic term to a Complainant's mark. See PG&E Corp. v Anderson, D2000-1264 (WIPO Nov. 22, 2000)(finding that respondent does not by adding common descriptive or generic terms create new or different marks nor does it alter the underlying mark held by the Complainant). The Panel agrees that the addition of the generic term "free" to the Complainant's mark does not distinguish the Domain Name from the Complainant's registered trade mark for the purposes of the Policy.

 

Previous panels have found confusing similarity when a respondent merely adds a generic number to a Complainant's mark.  See Nintendo of Am., Inc. v. Lizmi, FA 94329 (Forum Apr. 24, 2000). The Panel agrees that the addition of the generic number "4" to the Complainant's mark does not distinguish the Domain Name from the Complainant's registered trade mark for the purposes of the Policy.

 

The deletion of a hyphen from the Complainant's trademark does not prevent confusing similarity between the Domain Name and that trademark pursuant to the Policy. See MTD Products Inc v ICS Inc, FA 1721505 (Forum Apr. 18, 2017) (holding that "[t]he removal of the hyphen [from complainant's TROY-BILT mark in the disputed domain name] is, like most all embedded punctuation, insignificant").

 

The addition of a ccTLD such as .me does not serve to distinguish a Domain Name from a Complainant's mark. See Thomson Reuters Global Resources v Matthew Krawitz, FA 1548336 (Forum Apr. 21, 2014) ("Respondent adds the country-code top-level domain ("ccTLD") ".co" to Complainant's mark in the disputed domain name, which also fails to distinguish the domain name from Complainant's mark").

 

Accordingly, the Panel finds that the Domain Name is confusingly similar to a mark in which the Complainant has rights for the purpose of the Policy.

 

Rights or Legitimate Interests

The Complainant has not authorised the use of its mark and there is no evidence or reason to suggest the Respondent is, in fact, commonly known by the Domain Name. See Alaska Air Group, Inc. and its subsidiary, Alaska Airlines v. Song Bin, FA 1574905 (Forum Sept. 17, 2014) (holding that the respondent was not commonly known by the disputed domain name as demonstrated by the WHOIS information and based on the fact that the complainant had not licensed or authorized the respondent to use its ALASKA AIRLINES mark).

 

The Domain Name has been used for commercial purposes which cannot be legitimate non commercial fair use.

 

The Domain Name has been used in a fraudulent phishing scheme using the Complainant's mark to obtain log in information. This is deceptive and confusing and amounts to passing off and phishing. As such it cannot amount to the bona fide offering of goods and services. See DaVita Inc. v Cynthia Rochelo FA 1738034 (Forum July 20, 2017) (finding that 'Passing off in furtherance of a phishing scheme is not considered a bona fide offering of goods or services or legitimate non commercial or fair use')

 

As such the Panelist finds that the Respondent does not have rights or a legitimate interest in the Domain Name and that the Complainant has satisfied the second limb of the Policy.

 

Registration and Use in Bad Faith

Referring to the finding above that the Respondent has used the Domain Name for phishing, phishing schemes evince bad faith registration and use. See Klabzuba Oil & Gas, Inc. v LAKHPAT SINGH BHANDARI, FA  1625750 (Forum July 17, 2015).

 

As such, the Panelist believes that the Complainant has made out its case that the Domain Name was registered and used in bad faith and has satisfied the third limb of the Policy under 4 (b)(iii) and there is no need to consider further alleged grounds of bad faith.

 

DECISION

Having established all three elements required under the ICANN Policy, the Panel concludes that relief shall be GRANTED.

 

Accordingly, it is Ordered that the <freevbucks4.me> domain name be TRANSFERRED from Respondent to Complainant.

 

 

 

Dawn Osborne, Panelist

Dated: January 30, 2026