By: www.DefendMyDomain.com
In the recent domain name dispute decision of Lorillard Tobacco Company, Lorillard Licensing Company LLC v. Bao Shui Chen (WIPO D2009-0743, July 16, 2009), a single member Panel was faced with a dispute over the domain www.lorilard.com. Complainants manufacture and sell cigarettes in the U.S and in other countries throughout the world. They own trademarks registrations for LORILLARD and maintain a web site at www.lorillard.com. Respondent failed to respond to this dispute.
Under the Policy, the Complainant must prove that: (i) the disputed domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which it has rights; and (ii) the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the disputed domain name; and (iii) the disputed domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.
In addressing the first element, the Panel noted the disputed domain is identical to Complainants’ marks except for the omission of one of the L’s from the word. The Panel found the disputed domain was at least confusingly similar to the marks.
Moving to the second element, the Panel noted that (i) Respondent was not commonly known by the disputed domain, (ii) there was no evidence of authorization to use it, and (iii) has never asserted any rights or legitimate interests in the domain. Therefore, the Panel found the Complainants satisfied this element as well.
Moving to the final element, bad faith, the Panel explained that the disputed domain spelling of “lorilard” had no independent existence or meaning besides a misspelling of Complainants’ marks. The Panel quoted another decision dealing with typosqautting which stated as follows:
“Typosquatting is virtually per se registration and use in bad faith. It is difficult to conceive of circumstances that would overcome the inference that the typosquatter “intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to [Respondent’s website by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant’s mark as to the source” of the website. Here such conduct was undertaken to send Complainant’s customers to a site that promoted directly competing services.” (See Go Daddy Software, Inc. v. Daniel Hadani, WIPO Case No. D2002-0568)
The Panel also found that the Respondent had a history of being found in bad faith with regards to registrations. For these reasons, the Panel found that Complainants satisfied all three elements and ordered the disputed domain be TRANSFERRED.
