{
    "case_number": "CAC-ADREU-001317",
    "time_of_filling": null,
    "domain_names": [],
    "case_administrator": null,
    "complainant": [],
    "complainant_representative": null,
    "respondent": [],
    "respondent_representative": null,
    "factual_background": "Fédération des Experts Comptables Européens, F.E.E. (‘the Complainant’) is seeking the annulment of the decision of EURid (the Registry) according to which the FEE.eu domain name is allocated to Web Traffic Holding B.V. The Complainant is initiating this ADR proceeding against the Registry (the Respondent) under Article B 1 (a)(2) of the ADR Rules. The claim for annulment is based on the grounds that the decision conflicts with EC Regulation No 874\/2004, more specifically Article 10(2). \r\n\r\nSecondly, the Complainant is requesting that the disputed domain name is transferred to it. The Complainant argues that it meets the general eligibility criteria set out in Article 4(2)(b) of EC Regulation No 733\/2002 since it is a non-profit international association registered in Belgium with its central administration and principal place of business in Brussels, Belgium. In addition, the Complainant has a substantiated prior right to the name ‘FEE’ and is the next applicant in the queue for the domain name concerned.",
    "other_legal_proceedings": "-",
    "discussion_and_findings": "I.\tSPECIAL CHARACTERS IN THE TRADEMARK “F&E”\r\n\r\nArticle 11 of the Commission Regulation (EC) No 874\/2004 of 28 April 2004 (“Public Policy Rules”) states that where the name for which prior rights are claimed contains special characters, such as an ampersand (\"&\"), these shall be eliminated entirely from the corresponding domain name, replaced with hyphens, or, if possible, rewritten. \r\n\r\nThe standard meaning of an ampersand is “AND” in English, but there is no rule limiting an Applicant to rewrite the special character in a particular language (ADR decision No 01239 PESA). According ADR decision No 00394 FRANKFURT, the ampersand can be rewritten by a “corresponding word in another language”. In this case, the Applicant decided to rewrite the ampersand (see below) which is the most logical way how this special character could be eliminated from the respective trademark.\r\n\r\nThe disputed domain name FEE.EU was registered by Traffic Web Holding BV (hereafter \"the Applicant\") on the basis of national trade mark “F&E” registered in Netherlands. As mentioned above, the Applicant transcribed the ampersand used in the trademark and did not choose to eliminate it nor replace with a hyphen. The Applicant used “E” as the transcription of the ampersand. The word “E” is an Italian or Portuguese translation of English word “AND”. As there is no limitation on the language used for the transcription of a special character in the Public Policy Rules, the way of transcription depends on the Applicant’s decision only, provided that such transcription uses an existing word from a real language. The fact that ampersand is usually translated as “AND” or “ET” cannot prevent it’s translation to other languages even if such translation leads to “one-character” word as “E”. Therefore, the Applicant’s transcription of the ampersand leading to registration of disputed domain name FEE.EU is a correct way to register a domain name based on the “F&E” trade mark.\r\n\r\nBased on this reason, the Complaint must be denied.\r\n\r\nII.\tSPECULATIVE AND ABUSIVE REGISTRATION\r\n\r\nThe Complainant requests the application of article 21 of the Regulation - \"Speculative and abusive registrations\" on the basis of bad faith of the Applicant registering domain name FEE.EU which is confusingly similar to the abbreviation (F.E.E.) of the Complainant’s name.\r\n\r\nDuring the phased registration period, the decision by the Registry whether or not to register the domain name can only be taken on the ground of the findings whether or not the applicant has demonstrated a prior right in due time. There is no legal ground to reject an application for a domain name on the presumption that the application may have been made in bad faith or for speculative reasons. \r\n\r\nADR proceedings based on “bad faith” (Article 22(1)(a) of the Public Policy Rules) of an Applicant must be initiated against the domain name holder itself, not the Registry – cf. ADR Decisions No 00532 URLAUB, 00382 TOS, 00191 AUTOTRADER, 00335 MEDIATION and 00685 LOTTO. \r\n\r\nBased on this reason, the Complaint must be denied.",
    "decision": "For all the foregoing reasons, in accordance with Paragraphs B12 (b) and (c) of the Rules, the Panel orders that\r\n\r\nthe Complaint is Denied",
    "panelists": [
        null
    ],
    "date_of_panel_decision": "2006-08-18 00:00:00",
    "informal_english_translation": "The Complainant disputed the registration of the FEE.EU domain name for which prior right was claimed on the basis of the registered national trade mark “F&E”. The Complaint was based on the following grounds: \r\n(1) there were no prior rights of the Applicant to register domain name FEE.EU because of the wrong transcription of an ampersand (“&”) from the trade mark, which could be rewritten to result in either FANDE.EU or FETE.EU, but not FEE.EU. \r\n(2)  The Applicant made the application in bad faith.\r\n\r\nArticle 11 of the Commission Regulation (EC) No 874\/2004 of 28 April 2004 states that where the name for which prior rights are claimed contains special characters, such as an ampersand (\"&\"), these shall be eliminated entirely from the corresponding domain name, replaced with hyphens, or, if possible, rewritten. The standard meaning of an ampersand is “AND” in English whereas the Applicant used “E” as the transcription of the ampersand. The word “E” is an Italian or Portuguese translation of English word “AND”. As in the Commission Regulation (EC) No 874\/2004, there is no limitation on the language used for the transcription of a special character , the way of transcription depends on the Applicant’s decision only provided that such transcription uses an existing word from a real language. The fact that ampersand is usually translated as “AND” or “ET” cannot prevent it’s translation to other languages even if such translation leads to “one-character” word as “E”. Therefore, the Applicant’s transcription of the ampersand leading to registration of the FEE.EU domain name is a correct way to register a domain name based on the “F&E” trade mark.\r\n\r\nDuring the phased registration period, the decision by the Registry whether or not to register the domain name can only be taken on the ground of the findings whether or not the Applicant has demonstrated a prior right in due time. There is no legal ground to reject an application for a domain name on the presumption that the application may have been made in bad faith or for speculative reasons. Therefore, ADR proceeding based on “bad faith” of an Applicant must be initiated against the domain name holder itself, not the Registry.\r\n\r\nFrom the above mentioned reasons the Complaint is denied.",
    "decision_domains": [],
    "panelist": null,
    "panellists_text": null
}