Cybersquatters from China have some nerve.
Sole WIPO panelist, C. K. Kwong, was right: the incorporation of words which are identical or confusingly similar to the Complainant’s said four registered trademarks consisting of or comprising the respective words “amazon”, “fire”, “kindle” and “goodreads” in the Respondent’s 14 disputed domain names within a period of 2 years from April 10, 2012 to April 3, 2014 cannot be incidental.
In a case involving Amazon Inc. and an obvious cybersquatter of famous trademarks from China, the following domains were in dispute:
aamzonpayments.com
amaoznpayments.com
amazoncolections.com
amazonfirephone.co
amazonfirephone.info
amazonfirephone.org
amazonfirephone2.com
amazonfirewatch.com
amazonfirewear.com
amazonsmile.co
amazonsuppply.com
amazontv.co
goldreads.com
kindlepay.com
The Respondent had the nerve to claim these are all generic, making these laughable allegations instead:
1) Four disputed domain names <amazonfirephone.co>, <amazonfirephone.info>, <amazonfirephone.org> and <amazonfirephone2.com> were all registered on April 2, 2014 before the Complainant announced the launch of its smartphone in the name of “Amazon Fire Phone” on June 19, 2014 and announcing the availability of Amazon Fire Phone on June 20, 2014.
2) The Complainant has failed to protect itself by registering domain names with its trademark “Fire Phone”.
3) Amazon is a common noun or geographical term. In fact, there are many domain names registered embodying the word “Amazon” like <amazonphone.biz>, <amazonphone.cn> and <amazonphone.co.uk>.
4) The domain name such as <amazonwatch.org> belongs to someone else and is used as a platform for observing happenings in the Amazon River basin area. <Amazonfirewatch.com> can be used as a platform website for watching the fire hazards in the Amazon River basin. <Amazonfirewear.com> can also be a platform website for those who are going to observe and research on the Amazon River basin clothing and fashion culture.
5) The Respondent is a website producer in China and therefore regularly registers domain names for the purpose of website productions.
6) The application for “.amazon” as generic Top Level Domain name has been objected to by the South American countries simply because it is a geographical name representing the important region in which the South American countries were situated in the Amazon tropical forest. These countries include Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay.
7) As for <kindlepay.com>, it was created on April 10, 2012 for more than two years and according to the Rules, registration for more than two years should not be subject to challenge by administrative proceeding. Furthermore, the Complainant has already announced its Amazonpayments products. Other “kindlepay” domain names are still available. Had the Complainant been serious in protecting its domain names and trademark rights, it should commence administrative proceeding against all these others but in fact it did not even bother to register the domain names itself.
8) As the disputed domain names <aamzonpayments.com>, <amaoznpayments.com>, <amazoncolections.com>, <amazonsmile.co>, <amazonsupply.com>, <amazontv.co> and <goldreads.com> are near to their expiry and are not put to use, these can be given to the Complainant for free if it considers that its rights have been infringed.
Domain squatting cases are becoming more brazen these days, particularly against companies that have spent millions of dollars to produce products and build brands.
Amazon, in this case, is clearly being targeted for its successful products, and any claims presented above by the Chinese cybersquatter were silly attempts without merit.
For the full case text, click here.
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Ah, yes the “Amazon Fire Phone” which the Brazilian government has deployed throughout the region in order to allow indigenous tribes to report fires in their areas.
John – It’s paired with a kindle – a communications device created from animal skins.