8 jun 2016
Beslissing ingezonden door Hidde Koenraad, Simmons & Simmons.
"Wat heb je in gedachten voor compensatie" wijst op kwader trouw registratie bmw-accessoires.nl
WIPO 8 juni 2016, IEF 16036; DNL2016-0018 (BMW-accessoires.nl)
Domeinnaamrecht. Gedaagde registreert bmw-accesoires.nl, waarin het gehele merk van BMW, een bekend merk, is opgenomen. Accessoires is een gewoon, beschrijvend en niet-onderscheidend element in de domeinnaam. Op de sommatiebrief werd gereageerd met “[w]hat do you have in mind for compensation", wat wijst op registratie te kwader trouw. Domeinnaamoverdracht wordt bevolen.
A. Complainant has established that it is the owner of large number of trademark registrations including a Community trademark registration for BMW. The Domain Name, <bmw-accessoires.nl>, incorporates the entirety of the well-known BMW trademark as its distinctive element. Many decisions under the Regulations have found that a domain name is confusingly similar to a complainant’s trademark where the domain name incorporates the trademark in its entirety. The addition of the common, descriptive and non-distinctive element “accessoires” (translated in English: “accessories”) is insufficient to avoid a finding of confusing similarity. The Top-Level Domain “.nl” may be disregarded for purposes of article 2.1(a) of the Regulations.
B. Based on the evidence provided by Complainant, there is no active website to which the Domain Name resolves.
C. (...) The Panel notes that Respondent in its email of April 15, 2016 pursuant to a cease-and-desist email sent by Complainant replied “[w]hat do you have in mind for compensation”. This suggests that Respondent registered the Domain Name primarily to sell, rent, or otherwise transfer it for valuable consideration in excess of Respondent’s registration expenses, which constitutes registration or use in bad faith pursuant to article 3.2(a) of the Regulations.