The Complainant is the Belgian market leader in providing legal advice on intellectual property rights and related services. It is offering these services under its GEVERS trademark for over 120 years now because its activities under this trademark started back in 1898. The services of the Complainant consist, more specifically, of advising and assisting its customers with identifying, protecting, valorising and enforcing patents, trademarks, design rights, domain names, copyrights, trade secrets and other rights. The Complainant offers these services to customers from all around the world and it is therefore also present in over 180 countries worldwide, either via a local office or via local agents with whom it is working together consistently. Its main offices are located in Belgium.<\/p>\n
The Complainant’s GEVERS trademark enjoys a strong reputation in the sector of intellectual property advice.<\/p>\n
As a specialist in the protection of intellectual property rights it is of course evident that the Complainant has invested in the protection of its GEVERS trademark. In this regard it is the owner of, among others, the following trademark registrations:
- Benelux word mark registration No. 155431 GEVERS, filed on November 27, 1987 and registered on July 1, 1988 for services in classes 35, 41, 42 and 45;
- EU word mark registration No. 000175323 GEVERS, filed on April 1, 1996 and registered on November 5, 1998 for goods in classes 9 and 16 and for services in classes 35, 41 and 42.
<\/p>\n
The disputed domain name The Panel is not informed of any pending or decided legal proceedings which relate to the disputed domain name.<\/p>",
"discussion_and_findings": " According to Article 21 (1) of the Regulation (EC) No 874\/2004 on « Speculative and abusive registrations »:<\/p>\n « 1. A registered domain name shall be subject to revocation, using an appropriate extra-judicial or judicial procedure, where that name is identical or confusingly similar to a name in respect of which a right is recognised or established by national and\/or Community law, such as the rights mentioned in Article 10(1), and where it:<\/p>\n (a) has been registered by its holder without rights or legitimate interest in the name; or<\/p>\n (b) has been registered or is being used in bad faith\".<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Complainant is required to satisfy with these provisions.<\/p>\n Article 10.1 of the same regulation states that: “Holders of prior rights recognized or established by national and\/or Community law and public bodies shall be eligible to apply to register domain names during a period of phased registration before general registration of .eu domain starts.<\/p>\n ‘Prior rights’ shall be understood to include, inter alia, registered national and community trademarks, geographical indications or designations of origin, and, in as far as they are protected under national law in the Member-State where they are held: unregistered trademarks, trade names, business identifiers, company names, family names, and distinctive titles of protected literary and artistic works”.<\/p>\n The first question to answer is to decide if the Complainant has a right in the meaning of Article 10.1 of the EU Regulation 874\/2004 and the answer is affirmative.<\/p>\n The Complainant filed the Complainant in its quality of owner of the registered GEVERS trademarks:<\/p>\n - Benelux word mark registration No. 155431 GEVERS, filed on November 27, 1987 and registered on July 1, 1988 for services in classes 35, 41, 42 and 45;<\/p>\n - EU word mark registration No. 000175323 GEVERS, filed on April 1, 1996 and registered on November 5, 1998 for goods in classes 9 and 16 and for services in classes 35, 41 and 42.<\/p>\n Complainant asserts that The Respondent has engaged in typosquatting, a practice by which a registrant deliberately introduces slight deviations into a third party’s trademark, to register a domain name.<\/p>\n Because Respondent’s registration of the disputed domain name constitutes typosquatting, the domain at issue is, by definition, confusingly similar to Complainant’s trademarks.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to Article 21 (2) of the Regulation (EC) No 874 :2004 on « Speculative and abusive registrations »:<\/p>\n « 2. A legitimate interest within the meaning of point (a) of paragraph 1 may be demonstrated where:<\/p>\n (a)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n prior to any notice of an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedure, the holder of a domain name has used the domain name or a name corresponding to the domain name in connection with the offering of goods or services or has made demonstrable preparation to do so;<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n <\/p>\n (b)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n the holder of a domain name, being an undertaking, organisation or natural person, has been commonly known by the domain name, even in the absence of a right recognised or established by national and\/or Community law;<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n <\/p>\n (c)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n the holder of a domain name is making a legitimate and non-commercial or fair use of the domain name, without intent to mislead consumers or harm the reputation of a name on which a right is recognised or established by national and\/or Community law ».<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n When it is considered that the criteria provided by Article 21 (1) and (2) are met, there is no need to further analyse the case under the aspect of bad faith.<\/p>\n The Respondent did not use the possibility to contest the complaint to rebut the Complainant’s position.<\/p>\n The searches that were conducted prove that the Respondent does not own any GEVARS registered trademark.<\/p>\n The Complainant asserts that it does not know the Respondent who is domiciled in France, where it has an office, the address of which is used in the scam e-mails sent by the Respondent for fraudulent purposes.<\/p>\n It obviously appears from the use of the disputed domain name that the Respondent targeted the Complainant when registering and using the disputed domain name, since it used it only two days as of its registration in order to create e-mail addresses and use them to send scam e-mails impersonating the Complainant.<\/p>\n This fraudulent practice was made to mislead the Complainant’s clients who received these e-mails, with the goal to fraudulently receive payments. Such a practice does as well harm the reputation of the Complainant.<\/p>\n Where a complainant makes out a prima facie case that the respondent lacks a right or legitimate interest, the burden of proof on this element shifts to the respondent. If the respondent fails to come forward with such relevant evidence, the complainant is deemed to have satisfied the second element.<\/p>\n Under these circumstances, the Panel is of the opinion that the disputed domain name was registered without any right or legitimate interest in the meaning of Article 21 (1) of the Regulation (EC) No 874:2004.<\/p>\n Since the criteria set by this regulation are alternative, there is no need to further discuss the bad faith registration or use.<\/p>\n For all the foregoing reasons, in accordance with Paragraph B 12 of the Rules, the Panel orders that the complaint is satisfied.<\/p>\n <\/p>",
"decision": " For all the foregoing reasons, in accordance with Paragraphs B12 (b) and (c) of the Rules, the Panel orders that the disputed domain name <\/p>",
"panelists": [
"Marie Haas"
],
"date_of_panel_decision": "2022-12-29 00:00:00",
"informal_english_translation": " I. Disputed domain name: III. Date of registration of the domain name: June 6, 2022<\/p>\n 2. Why: typosquatting and use of the disputed domain name to send scam e-mails impersonating the Complainant<\/p>\n\n
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II. Country of the Complainant: Luxembourg, country of the Respondent: France
<\/p>\n
IV. Rights relied on by the Complainant (Art. 21 (1) Regulation (EC) No 874\/2004) on which the Panel based its decision:
- Benelux word mark registration No. 155431 GEVERS, filed on November 27, 1987 and registered on July 1, 1988 for services in classes 35, 41, 42 and 45;
- EU word mark registration No. 000175323 GEVERS, filed on April 1, 1996 and registered on November 5, 1998 for goods in classes 9 and 16 and for services in classes 35, 41 and 42.
V. Response submitted: No
VI. Domain name is confusingly similar to the protected rights of the Complainant
VII. Rights or legitimate interests of the Respondent (Art. 21 (2) Regulation (EC) No 874\/2004):
1. No<\/p>\n
VIII. Bad faith of the Respondent (Art. 21 (3) Regulation (EC) No 874\/2004):
1. [Yes\/No]
2. Why: no need to discuss it
IX. Other substantial facts the Panel considers relevant: -
X. Dispute Result: Transfer
XI. Procedural factors the Panel considers relevant: -
XII. If transfer to Complainant - Is Complainant eligible? Yes<\/p>",
"decision_domains": [],
"panelist": null,
"panellists_text": null
}