By: www.DefendMyDomain.com

In the recent domain name dispute decision of Davidoff & Cie SA v. Nicaragua Tobacco Imports, Inc. / Jorge Salazar (WIPO D2009-0923 August 20, 2009), a single member Panel was faced with a dispute over the domains www.davidoffcigarcutter.com, www.davidoffhumidor.com and www.davidoffhumidors.com. Complainant is the well known tobacco products company with a presence for nearly 100 years. They maintain a web site at www.davidoff.com. Respondent failed to respond to the complaint. Complainant has numerous trademark registrations for the DAVIDOFF mark.

The Panel provided one of the shortest decisions yet.  First, the Panel found that the domain names all incorporated Complainant’s full mark with the addition of generic words related to Complainant’s business. Second, the Panel found that there was no evidence of any right or legitimate interest in the domain by Respondent. Lastly, the Panel addressed the issue of bad faith. The Panel found that due to the long existence of Complainant and its use of the marks, the disputed domains could only have been registered in bad faith. Many of the links on the pages of the domains led to links of direct competitors with Complainant.

Ultimately, the Panel found that Complainant satisfied all elements of the Policy and ordered the domain be TRANSFERRED.