A Chinese domain squatter (“cybersquatter“) lost a UDRP for several .CN domains matching the brands and other intellectual property of German pharma giant, Bayer.
The UDRP was filed by Bayer Aktiengesellschaft, located in Germany, Bayer Intellectual Property GmbH, located in Germany, Bayer Consumer Care AG, located in Switzerland, Bayer Healthcare LLC, located in the United States of America (“United States”) and Bayer Oy, located in Finland against Cheng Fei / China, for the following domain names:
adempas.cn, afrin.cn, afrin.com.cn, claritin.cn, kogenate.com.cn, stivarga.com.cn, ventavis .cn, xofigo.com.cn, menevit.cn and mirena.cn.
All these domains are configured to resolve to a landing page with the following headline:
“Boost your online business & Prevent the loss of customers”
It’s clear from the wording of the landing pages that the primary goal of the registrant and Respondent in this UDRP is to insinuate that these are exact match brands necessary to strengthen corporate marketing strategy and prevent loss of traffic and customers. Targeting brand owners in this manner is the definition of cybersquatting.
The sole panelist in the UDRP stated (translated from Chinese:)
The panel believes that there is no evidence in this case that the respondent has acquired any trademark rights in relation to the disputed domain name, or that the disputed domain name has been used to provide goods or services in good faith. There is also no evidence that the respondent has gained a certain degree of popularity due to the disputed domain name. There is also no evidence that the Respondent’s use of the disputed domain name is non-commercially legal or reasonable.
The involved domain names were thus ordered to be transferred to the Complainant.
From a cursory search, we found out that the Respondent potentially owns other trademark-infringing domains, such as AppleWatch.com.cn, SamsungStore.cn, JerseyMikes.cn, LegoHouse.cn, Bang-Olufsen.com.cn, and MicrosoftTeams.com.cn. All these domains are currently listed for sale on Dan.com.
