NintendoSwitch2.com UDRP: #Chinese respondent delivers hilarious explanation

The registrant of the domain NintendoSwitch2.com gave a “hilarious” explanation about why he registered the domain name in 2020.

Nintendo of America Inc. filed the UDRP seeking to recover a premium IP asset that matches its much-anticipated Nintendo Switch 2 gaming console.

Nintendo officially announced the Nintendo Switch 2 on January 16, 2025. The announcement highlighted key features such as backward compatibility with existing Switch cartridges, a redesigned sleeker appearance, and new Joy-Con controllers with magnetic connectors. The console is set to launch on June 5, 2025, with a base price of $449.99 so the timing of this UDRP was important.

In the UDRP, the Chinese Respondent Qian Xiang Chen said that the domain name translates as “You are on the rise, you have the courage to take action and change, and you get a second life”, based on its Chinese punctuation and pronunciation in the Sichuan dialect of spoken China.

The Forum panelist would not take any of this nonsense, ordering the domain NintendoSwitch2.com to be transferred to the Complainant:

“Here, the Respondent has shown no “fair use” or preparation for use of the Domain Name in any legitimate fashion but merely asserts a “legitimate interest” in the Domain Name “based on its beautiful Chinese meaning”. The Panel finds no relevant or material connection between the Respondent’s reference in the Response to the Chinese idiom “飞黄腾达” (fēi huáng téng dá) and the Domain Name nintendoswitch2.com. The Panel finds the Respondent’s attempts to rebut the Complainant’s allegations and evidence without merit.”

 

Nintendo of America Inc. v. Qian Xiang Chen

Claim Number: FA2505002153746

PARTIES

Complainant is Nintendo of America Inc. (“Complainant”), represented by Christian W. Marcelo of Perkins Coie LLP, Washington, USA. Respondent is Qian Xiang Chen (“Respondent”), China.

REGISTRAR AND DISPUTED DOMAIN NAME

The domain name at issue is nintendoswitch2.com, registered with Alibaba Cloud Computing (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

PANEL

The undersigned certifies that he has acted independently and impartially and to the best of his knowledge has no known conflict in serving as Panelist in this proceeding.

David L. Kreider, Chartered Arbitrator (UK), as Panelist.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The Complainant submitted a Complaint to Forum electronically on May 2, 2025; Forum received payment on May 2, 2025.

On May 7, 2025, Alibaba Cloud Computing (Beijing) Co., Ltd. confirmed by e-mail to Forum that the nintendoswitch2.com domain name (the “Domain Name”) is registered with Alibaba Cloud Computing (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and that the Respondent is the current registrant of the name. Alibaba Cloud Computing (Beijing) Co., Ltd. has verified that the Respondent is bound by the Alibaba Cloud Computing (Beijing) Co., Ltd. registration agreement and has thus agreed to resolve domain disputes brought by third parties under ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy”).

On May 12, 2025, Forum served the Complaint and all Annexes, including a Chinese and English Written Notice of the Complaint, setting a deadline of June 2, 2025, by which the Respondent could file a Response to the Complaint, via e-mail to all entities and persons listed on the Respondent’s registration as technical, administrative, and billing contacts, and to postmaster@nintendoswitch2.com. Also on May 12, 2025, the Chinese and English Written Notice of the Complaint, notifying the Respondent of the e-mail addresses served and the deadline for a Response, was transmitted to the Respondent via post and fax, to all entities and persons listed on the Respondent’s registration as technical, administrative and billing contacts.

A timely Response was received and found to be complete on May 27, 2025.

On May 27, 2025, pursuant to the Complainant’s request to have the dispute decided by a single-member Panel, Forum appointed David L. Kreider as Panelist.

Having reviewed the communications records, the Administrative Panel (the “Panel”) finds that Forum has discharged its responsibility under Paragraph 2(a) of the Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Rules”) “to employ reasonably available means calculated to achieve actual notice to Respondent” through submission of Electronic and Written Notices, as defined in Rule 1 and Rule 2.

RELIEF SOUGHT

The Complainant requests that the domain name be transferred from the Respondent to the Complainant.

PRELIMINARY ISSUE: LANGUAGE OF PROCEEDING

The language of the Registration Agreement for the Domain Name is Chinese. Under the Rules, paragraph 11(a), absent an agreement between the parties, or unless specified in the registration agreement, the language of the administrative proceeding shall be the language of the registration agreement. Paragraph 11(a) of the Rules allows the Panel to determine the language of the proceeding having regard to all the circumstances.

Here, the Complainant and the Respondent have submitted two versions of the Complaint and the Response, respectively, one written in English and another in Chinese, neither party expressing a preference about the language of the proceeding.

Considering all relevant circumstances of the case, including the parties’ ability to understand and use the proposed language and the ubiquitous availability to anyone with an Internet connection of artificial intelligence (AI) applications to translate documents between languages, in the spirit of fairness and justice to both parties, the Panel decides that English will be the language of this administrative proceeding.

PARTIES’ CONTENTIONS

A. Complainant

The NINTENDO mark, to which the Complainant own registered rights, is inherently distinctive and has achieved widespread fame throughout the world. See Nintendo of America Inc. v. smith wake / Nintendo, FA2207002004150 (Forum Aug. 11, 2022) (finding that Complainant “owns, inter alia, the mark NINTENDO registered in the USA for video game related goods and services and used since at least 1985.”); Nintendo of America Inc. v. Ali Asad Ur Rehman, FA2001001881671 (Forum Feb. 26, 2020) and Nintendo of America Inc. v. Jack Lavoire, FA2001001878557 (Forum Feb. 5, 2020) (recognizing Complainant’s rights in the NINTENDO mark “since at least 1988”).

In addition to its registered rights, Nintendo also owns common law rights to the SWITCH mark dating back to at least as early as 2017. See Nintendo of America Inc. v. Dajana Shawn, FA1798791 (Forum Sept. 4, 2018) (transferring domain; finding Nintendo owns common law rights to the SWITCH mark); Nintendo of America Inc. v. Khoa Le / Switch Bounty, FA1886240 (Forum March 27, 2020); Nintendo of America Inc. v. Adrien Hemery, FA1892061 (Forum May 25, 2020); Nintendo of America Inc. v. Sandra Ballester, FA2203001988530 (Forum April 15, 2022); Nintendo of America Inc. v. Host Master / 1337 Services LLC / dylan reich / Mig switch / Przemyslaw Golz / APEGO Systems GmbH, FA2405002097143 (Forum June 12, 2024); Nintendo of America Inc. v. dylan reich / Mig switch, FA2407002106117 (Forum Aug. 7, 2024); Nintendo of America Inc. v. Host Master / Njalla Okta LLC, FA2407002106114 (Forum Aug. 7, 2024).

The Domain Name, nintendoswitch2.com, is confusingly similar to the Complainant’s marks as it uses the entirety of the NINTENDO and NINTENDO SWITCH (the “Marks”) in the domain name. See Nintendo of America Inc. v. Foster William, FA2309002061515 (Forum Oct. 6, 2023) (finding that Nintendo-MX.com and Nintendo-BR.com, among other domains, incorporated the NINTENDO mark in its entirety, and were confusingly similar to the mark as a result). Adding the number “2” at the end of the domain does not reduce the confusion. See also Yggdrasil Malta Limited v. Whois Agent, Domain Protection Services, Inc. / Mongkol Tahwon, Shareclip Network, D2021-3610 (WIPO Jan. 24, 2022) (the addition of the numbers “168” to a mark was insufficient to dispel confusing similarity).

The Respondent is not commonly known by the Domain Name, is not an authorized dealer, distributor, or licensee of the Complainant, and does not hold trademark registrations that are identical, similar, or in any way related to the Marks, and has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the Domain Name.

The Respondent updated the Domain Name with the registrar on January 16, 2025, the same day that Nintendo announced the Nintendo Switch 2, showing that Respondent had prior knowledge of Nintendo’s rights to the NINTENDO SWITCH mark. In view of its worldwide recognition and renown, there can be no doubt that Respondent had prior knowledge of the NINTENDO Marks. The Respondent’s registration of the Domain Name with knowledge of Nintendo’s rights to the Marks shows that the Respondent registered the Domain Name in bad faith. See Nintendo of America Inc. v. Foster William, FA2309002061515 (Forum Oct. 6, 2023) (finding bad faith because “Respondent registered the disputed domain name with actual knowledge of Complainant’s mark”); see also Univision Comm’ens Inc. v. Norte, FA 1000079 (Forum Aug. 16, 2007) (rejecting respondent’s claim that it registered the disputed domain name in good faith, since the panel found that respondent knew about complainant’s mark when the disputed domain incorporating that mark was registered).

B. Respondent

The Respondent alleges he registered the Domain Name because it is similar to the pronunciation of the local dialect in Sichuan, China, and has a blessing meaning. He explains, I registered the Domain Name nintendoswitch2.com because it contains the meaning of blessing in the Chinese context – “您飞黄腾达，勇于行动改变，获得 第二新生”, which is translated into English as “You are on the rise, you have the courage to take action and change, and you get a second life”, based on its Chinese punctuation and pronunciation in the Sichuan dialect of spoken China.

To support his assertion, the Respondent includes a link to a Chinese language database entitled: The Analysis of the Phonological Variation of the Dropping of Nasal Codas in Chengdu Dialect and Its Causes, from which he concludes: “it difficult for Sichuan people to distinguish between front and back nasals, such as ‘en’ and ‘eng’, ‘in’ and ‘ing’, etc”, and that, “In the actual application of Sichuan dialect, there is indeed a phenomenon of pronouncing “teng” in Mandarin as “ten”, so it is common for Sichuan people to pronounce “腾” as “ten”.

The Respondent posits:

“I registered and held the [Domain Name] in March 2020, earlier than the

complainant Nintendo released its related products; at the same time, according to the evidence provided by Nintendo, during the arbitration of this case, Nintendo did not obtain the “nintendoswitch2” trademark, so I did not infringe Nintendo’s trademark rights. In summary, I own the legal rights to the domain name [nintendoswitch2.com].

The Respondent pleads: “…I hope to keep this domain name and let it bless my life, because it has a special personal meaning to me in the past 5 years, and its beautiful Chinese meaning has accompanied me through the difficult days”.

FINDINGS

1. The Complainant, Nintendo, is widely recognized as one of the best-selling video game system developers and most famous international companies in the world. As such, the Marks are entitled to the highest standard of intellectual property protection.

2. The Complainant obtained registration of its NINTENDO mark in the United States on December 25, 1990 (Registration Number 1628966) and its NINTENDO SWITCH mark on April 10, 2018 (Registration Number 5443363).

3. The Complainant launched Nintendo Switch in 2017.

4. The Respondent registered the Domain Name nintendoswitch2.com, on March 19, 2020.

5. The Respondent then updated the registration of the Domain Name on January 16, 2025, which is the same date that the Complainant announced the future launch of Nintendo Switch 2, which has yet to be released.

6. The Chinese idiom “飞黄腾达” (fēi huáng téng dá) referenced in the Response means “to rise rapidly to a high position” or “to achieve sudden success and prominence.” Neither the substantive meaning or the phonetic representation of the idiom (regardless the Chinese dialect employed) bears any meaningful connection to the Domain Name nintendoswitch2.com, as alleged by the Respondent.

7. The Domain Name resolves to an inactive parking page.

DISCUSSION

Paragraph 15(a) of the Rules instructs this Panel to “decide a complaint on the basis of the statements and documents submitted and in accordance with the Policy, these Rules and any rules and principles of law that it deems applicable.”

Paragraph 4(a) of the Policy requires that Complainant must prove each of these three elements to obtain an order that a domain name should be cancelled or transferred:

(1) the domain name registered by Respondent is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which Complainant has rights; and

(2) Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and

(3) the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.

Identical and/or Confusingly Similar

The Panel finds that the Domain Name is confusingly similar to the Marks as it incorporates the entirety of the Complainant’s registered NINTENDO and NINTENDO SWITCH Marks in the domain name. Adding the Arabic number “2” at the end of the Domain Name does not reduce the confusion but enhances the likelihood of confusion given the announced future release of the Nintendo Switch 2 product the same day the Domain Name was updated with the registrar. (The Panel hastens to clarify, however, that the likelihood of actual confusion among public Internet users does not have to be proved to satisfy the Policy Paragraph 4(a)(i) requirement).

The first element of Policy Paragraph 4(a)(i) is satisfied.

Rights or Legitimate Interests

The Complainant established prima facie that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the Domain Name. Following well-established UDRP practice, the burden shifts to the Respondent to produce evidence it enjoys such rights or interests.

Here, the Respondent has shown no “fair use” or preparation for use of the Domain Name in any legitimate fashion but merely asserts a “legitimate interest” in the Domain Name “based on its beautiful Chinese meaning”. The Panel finds no relevant or material connection between the Respondent’s reference in the Response to the Chinese idiom “飞黄腾达” (fēi huáng téng dá) and the Domain Name nintendoswitch2.com. The Panel finds the Respondent’s attempts to rebut the Complainant’s allegations and evidence without merit.

The second element of Policy Paragraph 4(a)(ii) is satisfied.

Registration and Use in Bad Faith

The Complainant argues that the mere registration of a domain name that is identical or confusingly similar (particularly domain names comprising typos or incorporating the mark plus a descriptive term) to a famous or widely known trademark by an unaffiliated entity can by itself create a presumption of bad faith, citing Section 3.1.4 of the WIPO Overview 3.0, and Oracle International Corp., et. al v. Gna Jobs, FA2202001986029 (Forum March 31, 2022)(finding that domain resolving to parked page was registered in bad faith based on the fame and strength of complainant’s trademarks the predated registration of domain). This Panel agrees and finds that the presumption applies here.

Under the circumstances, including the Respondent’s highly specious explanation of his reasons for selecting the Domain Name, Respondent knew about the Complainant’s famous NINTENDO mark which the Domain Name incorporates in full. The Respondent’s registration of the Domain Name with knowledge of the Complainant’s registered rights to the Marks shows that Respondent registered the Disputed Domain in bad faith.

The third element of Policy Paragraph 4(a)(iii) is satisfied.

DECISION

Having shown all three elements required under the ICANN Policy, the Panel concludes that relief shall be GRANTED.

It is Ordered that the nintendoswitch2.com domain name be TRANSFERRED from Respondent to Complainant.

David L. Kreider, Panelist

Dated: May 28, 2025

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