Thread: .IN is not just for Indian entities - INDRP

INDRP dispute decision involving the domain name HotCourses.in.

The Complainant provides online educational services and owns the trademark HOTCOURSES in India. The UK-based company has a subsidiary company in India.

The Respondent owns the domain HotCourses.in. A brief look at Archive.org reveals the website was probably a directory with links in the area of education.

The Respondent argued that:

".in" is an Indian extension, meant only for Indian entities and therefore the Complainant is not entitled to use its mark or a domain name in the ".in" domain as the Complainant, Hotcourses Ltd., is a foreign company.

The Arbitrator responded:

Even if the owner of the mark is a foreign entity there is nothing in the Policy to prevent a foreign entity from registering a ".in" domain name.

I already knew this. However, do you think it is a common misconception that ".in" is an Indian extension meant only for Indian entities?

The Respondent also stated that he had spent time and money promoting the website. The Arbitrator said no supporting documents were submitted to substantiate these claims, and that there was nothing on record to show the Respondent had any legitimate rights or interests in the name Hot Courses.

The Arbitrator further stated that the Respondent placed links on the website in the area of education and that it was similar to the Complainant's area of business. This was likely to mislead users and it showed evidence of bad faith.

The Respondent was therefore ordered to transfer the domain HotCourses.in to the Complainant.

The site looks like it was a directory with no listings.

It sounds to me like the respondent did not present his case well - ie he made assertions, but did not provide evidence to back it up.

Kind of a borderline case, as normally you wouldn't refer to courses as "hot" - it's not really a generic term.

yes..he could have just used the name as a generic domain..as in the name is made up of 2 generic words..