A trademark does not always get you the domain.
A UDRP filed by a French company against the registrant of the domain Neurones.com, has resulted in a finding of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking.
The domain Neurones.com was registered in 1996 by a Moroccan entrepreneur who resides in Quebec, Canada; the term NEURONES was registered as an international mark in 2008 by Neuron SA of Paris, France, Complainant in this UDRP.
The Complainant, Neurons SA, is also the domain name holder of neurones.fr and neurones.net, registered on 4th of December 1996 and 26th of July 1999.
The group which it belongs had at the end of 2014, a total of 4100 employees and a financial turnover of around EUR 355 million.
With that in mind, a three member panel found the following:
“The Panel notes that the disputed domain name was registered in 1996 and that, subject to a first contact initiated eight years later by the Applicants in 2004, no contact has occurred between the parties. […]
In this case, there is nothing to explain why the Applicants waited in first eight years before entering a first contact with the Respondent to obtain the transfer of the disputed domain name their favor and, even more, nine years before resuming again contact while having so some knowledge of the disputed domain name, fifteen years after its registration. During this period, the Respondent appears to have a legitimate use of the disputed domain name in connection with its Neural Technologies.”
The panel also delivered a finding of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking:
“For the foregoing reasons, in accordance with paragraphs 4 (i) of the Policy and 15 of the Rules, the Panel dismisses the complaint filed by the Applicants. The Administrative Commission considers in addition that the complaint was brought in bad faith by the applicants and constitutes an abuse within the meaning of section 15 (e) of the Rules.“
For the full text of the UDRP, translated from French, click here. For the original text in French, click here.
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