A TM alone does not give exclusive rights to a domain.
In an attempt to get the domain LusciousCosmetics.com, Innovative Technologies Pvt. Ltd of Punjab, Pakistan, cited a Pakistani trademark for “Luscious” (2006) and another for “Luscious Cosmetics” (2014).
According to the UDRP filed at the WIPO, the Complainant attempted to purchase the disputed domain name from Luscious LLC.
The Respondent pointed out it’s been using the domain since its registration in 2002, to provide bona fide services to the domain’s owners.
They used Screenshots.com, a service of DomainTools, for supporting evidence:
“The Respondent informs the Panel that its company, Inland Technology Group Incorporated, is a full-service provider of software design, development and management services and that, since 2003, it has provided web development services on behalf of, and at the request of, the beneficial owner of the disputed domain name, which is identified as the company Luscious, LLC, established on May 15, 2000.
The Respondent asserts that the disputed domain name was originally registered on January 17, 2002 by its beneficial owner Luscious, LLC, and that said company operated an e-commerce web site at the disputed domain name where it sold cosmetics under the trademark LUSCIOUS COSMETICS well before the filing of the Complainant’s trademark, as highlighted in the historical screenshots of the Respondent’s web site dated September 12, 2005, available on the web site “www.screenshots.com”.
The sole panelist delivered the following decision, stopping short of declaring a finding of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking:
“Since the disputed domain name was registered several years before the Complainant came into existence and its trademarks LUSCIOUS and LUSCIOUS COSMETICS were registered, it is inconceivable how the Respondent could have been aware of the Complainant’s trademarks at the time of registration.”
For the full text of the UDRP decision for LusciousCosmetics.com, click here.
