In the recent decision of Norbert A. Aleman v. Crazygirls.com/Vertical Axis, Inc., WIPO Case No. D2008-1252, (October 29, 2008), a three member Panel was faced with a dipsute over the domain www.crazygirls.com. The Complainant claimed ownership of a registration for the mark CRAZY GIRLS, registered on November 20, 2001, for services of a live stage show, based on a first use date of August 1986. The Claimant maintains a domain at www.crazygirlslasvegas.com. The disputed domain was first registered on August 8, 2001, and at the time of the dispute, was resolving to a generic landing page with automatically generated links.
The three member Panel found that the domain was identical or confusingly similar, regarding the first prong of the UDRP/ICANN policy. Regarding the second prong of the Policy, namely whether the Respondent has any rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain, the Panel made the following observation:
[T]here is no evidence of any of the following circumstances: (i) that the Respondent has any proprietary or contractual rights in any registered or common law trademark corresponding to the disputed domain name; (ii) that the Respondent is authorized or licensed by the Complainant to use the CRAZY GIRLS trademark or to register and use the disputed domain name; (iii) that the Respondent has been commonly known by the disputed domain name.
The Panel also analyzed Respondent’s arguments that the domain was made up of two generic words and Complainant’s complaints about the Respondent’s use of pay-per-click advertising links, but ultimately the Panel found the “legitimate rights” factor to be in favor of Complainant.
Moving on to the last prong of the Policy, whether or not the Respondent registered and used the domain in bad faith, the Panel noted that Respondent’s use of a privacy service for the registration data does not, by itself, establish bad faith. In fact, the Panel noted there are legitimate reasons for using such a service.
Addressing other aspects of bad faith, the Panel also explained about:
Further, the Complainant has not identified any source of actual confusion between the Respondent’s use of the disputed domain name and the Complainant’s trademark, such as links within the Respondent’s website to the Complainant’s show, or shows of its competitors. The Complainant states that it has continuously used the CRAZY GIRLS trademark since August 1986 to brand a stage show and review running in Las Vegas, and has owned the trademark registration since 2001. It has not provided any evidence of the extent of the goodwill or reputation of its trademark beyond Las Vegas, such as its own Internet use of its trademark, that might assist the Panel in inferring that the Respondent knew of or intended to profit from the CRAZY GIRLS trademark. The Complainant does not explain when it first learnt of the Respondent’s registration of the disputed domain name, or explain its inaction in defending its trademark during the period of nearly seven years since the Respondent’s registration.
Ultimately, the Panel DENIED Complainant’s request to Transfer.
