Domains Arena

Here we have another WIPO procedure won by Google over a domain name in a clear trademark infringement. The domain was vietnamadwords.com and Google, represented in this case by Ranjan Narula, won the procedure over the previous owner.

Google has offered advertising services under the mark Adwords since 2001. Therefore,they contended in the complaint that the domain name is confusingly similar to its trademark. But not only this, they also declared that the respondent registered and used the domain name in bad faith.

• "Respondent had Complainant and its ADWORDS mark in mind when registering the Domain Name. The former prominent use of the word Google on Respondent’s website makes this conclusion virtually inescapable."
• "Respondent’s conduct constitutes an intentional attempt to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to Respondent’s site by creating a likelihood of confusion between the ADWORDS mark and the Domain Name."

The respondent failed to provide a response in this proceeding and the complainant managed to demonstrate all the elements needed, and the Panel decided the disputed domain name be transferred from the respondent to the complainant. As everyone expected, of course...

To see the full decision you can visit this page.

The Coca Cola Company, world's largest drinks producer, has recenty won another domain, trademark infringing, through a WIPO process.

Coca Cola started the aforementioned WIPO on the domain cokerewards2009.com due the negligence of the current domain owner to transfer the domain name to the company. Of course the decision was quite easy and contained no surprises since the complainant, the Coca Cola Company, owns trademark registrations for the "Coke" trademark in every country in the world.

Also they allegated that the registrant of the domain name was using the disputed domain name in bad faith.

"The Respondent’s registration and use of the Domain Name in connection with fraudulent attempts to collect personal information by creating the false impression that the site was affiliated with the Complainant is a clear indication of bad faith."

The reason of the decision (which you can see here), to transfer the domain back to the trademark owner, was due the respondent failure to to submit a response on the process. Although, nothing would have changed the WIPO decision, of course.