Another UDRP brought against Yoyo Email Ltd.
We hadn’t heard from the Yoyo Email Ltd. guys in a UDRP recently, and we were getting a bit worried.
Here they are, bouncing back into the Guinness Book of records, with most UDRP cases against a single company in a single year.
The UDRP for the domain name Michelin.Email was filed at the WIPO by Compagnie Générale des Etablissements Michelin of Clermont-Ferrand, France, producers of famous tires.
Once again, the Respondent claimed they have legitimate rights and interests in the domain, and that their business plan – details of which were not disclosed – makes fair use of the domain, and that it does not infringe on any trademarks.
The panelist, Clive L. Elliott, disagreed, and delivered this scathing set of findings on Michelin.Email:
“Having reached the view that Respondent lacks any license or permission to use such a well-known trademark and that Respondent has not demonstrated use of, or demonstrable preparations to use, the Domain Name in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services, it is reasonable to infer that Respondent wishes to take advantage of Internet users who may know of or otherwise wish to purchase or partake in Complainant’s well-known branded goods or services.
In the absence of any explanation from Respondent as to how and why the MICHELIN Trademark is necessary for the alleged legitimate operation of its business the Panel finds that it registered and used the Domain Name in bad faith. That is, so as to take advantage of Internet users who know and trust Complainant’s MICHELIN Trademark. That is, regardless of whether this is at the backend or front-end of an email service. In this regard it is relevant that Complainant communicates on the Internet via various websites in order to present and to propose to the Internet users its services and products, and promotes its goods and services via its own websites.
Further, the Panel is satisfied that bad faith registration is supported by the fact that Complainant’s MICHELIN Trademark significantly pre-dated Respondent’s registration of the Domain Name and in light of the long-established and widespread use and the protection of the MICHELIN Trademark that Respondent knew or ought to have known of Complainant’s prior rights.”
For the full text of the UDRP for the domain Michelin.Email, click here.
