Yoyo – not just a toy.
If you thought that “yoyo” is just a generic term, think again.
A UDRP against the domain Yoyohose.com was based on a trademark for “YOYO.”
The difference, however, is that the Complainant, Fitt S.P.A. of Vicenza, Italy, has registered YOYO with relation to garden hoses.
Therefore, the significance of the YOYO mark relates directly to the domain name, registered by someone in China earlier in 2016.
According to the UDRP:
The Complainant, an Italian company, is a manufacturer of flexible hoses for the consumer and professional markets. The products include hoses and fittings for gardening as well as for building swimming pools and conveying gas or food liquids. The Complainant currently uses the mark YOYO in connection with garden hoses and flexible hoses. The mark YOYO is registered as a trade mark in many jurisdictions of the world including China. The earliest trade mark registration submitted in evidence was registered on July 13, 2015 (international registration no. 1261153).
The sole WIPO panelist in this case, Karen Fong, made the following observations:
“The YOYO trade mark was registered before the Domain Name was registered. The Domain Name includes a combination of two words – “yoyo”, the ordinary meaning of which is a type of toy and “hose”, which is descriptive of the goods which are sold under the trade mark YOYO. The word “yoyo” in the Domain Name is therefore clearly not in reference to its ordinary meaning but its mark significance. It is clear that the combination of the two words making up the second level Domain Name was a reference to the Complainant’s trade mark. The Complainant’s products under the YOYO trade mark are very much present on the Internet. It would be inconceivable that the Respondent had no knowledge and actual notice of the YOYO trade mark when the Domain Name was registered. The Panel concludes that the registration was made in bad faith.”
The Respondent, on the other hand, asked for evidence of a trademark in China. They own several other domains related to hoses, such as:
petswasher.com
zjfhhose.com
zjfhpipe.com
zjfhtech.com
zjfhtube.com
The panelist ordered the domain yoyohose.com to be transferred to the Complainant, and you can read all about it here.
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