A trademark can be the result of non trademark words combined.
Generic words put together can lead to some interesting combinations that infringe on existing trademarks.
“Evergreen” is one such word, indicating the perpetuating green foliage of trees or pastures of land, through the year. For that use, the word is clearly generic.
Despite all this, when combined with “SunPower,” there is a problem, as the latter is a registered trademark.
In a UDRP filed at the Arbitration Forum, the owner of EvergreenSunPower.com was challenged by the Complainant, SunPower Corporation.
In this case, the Respondent failed to respond, despite having a fully operating business and web site on that domain:
“Evergreen Sun Power, like the communities it serves, is a small company that prides itself in supplying cutting edge designs that are as beautiful as they are functional. Now fully involved to bring solar to the Denver Metro area. We keep our overhead costs low so we can spend time to individualize each system and still keep price very competitive with the “mass production” solar companies.”
The findings were as follows:
“Complainant asserts that Respondent had actual notice of Complainant’s rights in its SUNPOWER mark prior to domain name registration because Respondent included the entire mark in the domain name and because Respondent offers products and services at the resolving website that are in competition with those offered by Complainant. Complainant also points to its extensive trademark registrations in arguing that Respondent must have had constructive knowledge of Complainant’s rights in the SUNPOWER mark when Respondent registered the disputed domain name.”
With all that in mind, the sole panelist ordered the domain EvergreenSunPower.com to be transferred to the Complainant.
For the full text of this UDRP, click here.
