INDRP: Axa.in - When not to park a domain

IT.com

Ceres

New Member
AXA SA, a well-known French company that does business worldwide in the areas of insurance and finance, won the domain Axa.in in the latest INDRP case. AXA owns many trademarks for "AXA" worldwide, including India.

According to the decision, the respondent registered the domain Axa.in after AXA had acquired their trademark in India.

The respondent filed no response in this case.

In my opinion, here's what ruined the respondent's case:

The website was parked and had links in the areas of insurance and finance. Also, some of these links led to the websites of AXA's competitors.

I think the respondent would have been safer if it had developed this LLL domain into a full website, and showed a legitimate use for the term Axa, which does not touch the areas of insurance and finance.

What do you think of the decision?
 
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Well, decision seems fair to me. as the respondent didn't contest.

any domain that is parked has a good chance of going to complaint becuase IN registry would feel you are wasting the domain by parking it.
that's the general sense of jury in INDRP, I am observing this from past few cases.


So better develop it into a minisite. www.Noomle.com is a Good Option
 
So better develop it into a minisite. www.Noomle.com is a Good Option

Gaurish, please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Noomle is a parking company? Wouldn't you simply be trading a traditional parking service for the more modern minisite parking service that Noomle offers? From the Noomle website:

With Noomle , you will park Unlimited domain names and get unlimited Noomle websites add your Google Adsense or yahoo publisher network (YPN), adbrite and other Affiliate programs and generate Great revenue 100% yours , no share…

I think a domain owner, who is in a similar situation as the respondent in the Axa.in case, will need to make a much bigger effort to show legitimate use. I don't think a Noomle minisite will achieve this. What do other people think?
 
Why would anyone try to reg a domain name of an established company--a company that is established in your own country (there was a very large Axa building in my residential neighborhood in Bangalore, so there must be other Axa building in India). It seems awful cheeky to me to register Axa or the name of any similar international company. I think the respondent was asking for it. The respondent should be very glad he/she wasn't fined Axa's lawyer fees.
 
I agree with newyourdude. I have made a similar mistake of registering a domain name purely without realising its a trademark(you all know which one ;-), trust me I had no intention of being "cheeky" to register a TM domain name. Sometimes when you search for a doamin you get into the excitement (and trapped) of "domain availability" that you just land up buying it, until somebody points that to you "hey that's a trademark" - and you are f.....! eh :-(
I am just waiting for the domain to expire or maybe who knows before it expires the TM owner comes to me and at least give me my domain purchase price...
 
@hosting, If I innocently regged a domain name that turns out to be wanted by a big company, I would ask for more than just reg fee. After all, the process of pulling the regged domain out of my hands requires the company to submit forms to some official body. I would say, "OK, you're right, I regged this site in all innocence, but now I see it should be yours. If you pay me $xxx, I'll turn it over to you right away. If you want to grab this name from me after going to the registration agency or the court, you will probably win but it will cost you lawyer's fees. Why not pay me a small amount, instead of paying lawyers?"
 
@hosting, If I innocently regged a domain name that turns out to be wanted by a big company, I would ask for more than just reg fee. After all, the process of pulling the regged domain out of my hands requires the company to submit forms to some official body. I would say, "OK, you're right, I regged this site in all innocence, but now I see it should be yours. If you pay me $xxx, I'll turn it over to you right away. If you want to grab this name from me after going to the registration agency or the court, you will probably win but it will cost you lawyer's fees. Why not pay me a small amount, instead of paying lawyers?"

hmm... your response sometimes really gets me thinking I am sure others think that too ;)
Thanks for your reponse i totally agree with you but I will think about this whether or not should i keep this domain, or never know i will keep this for ever - in a hope to see some good money come in ;-)
 
Renew or not renew? I don't know. My guess is that it's a matter of each individual case. Which, in turn, means it's a matter of the size of your budget. Hosting, your budget is huge, so it shouldn't be a problem, right?;)
 
If you want to grab this name from me after going to the registration agency or the court, you will probably win but it will cost you lawyer's fees. Why not pay me a small amount, instead of paying lawyers?"

I'd be careful here as this tactic might hurt you in the long-term. If it actually goes to court and the trademark owner wins the trademarked domain, you might get labeled a cybersquatter. If this happens, it may ruin your chances in other potential INDRP cases where you actually have a legitimate claim to your domain.

Thanks for your reponse i totally agree with you but I will think about this whether or not should i keep this domain, or never know i will keep this for ever - in a hope to see some good money come in ;-)

I understand domainers can innocently register trademarked domains. However, if they choose to renew the domain after they've found out it's a trademarked term, this shows bad faith.

Hosting, in your case, are you sure you can't use your domain in a different channel of trade than which the trademark has received protection? Obviously, if it's a famous trademark, you can't and shouldn't try to do this.
 
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I'd be careful here as this tactic might hurt you in the long-term. If it actually goes to court and the trademark owner wins the trademarked domain, you might get labeled a cybersquatter. If this happens, it may ruin your chances in other potential INDRP cases where you actually have a legitimate claim to your domain.

I disagree. If you registered the domain in all innocence, the likelihood that they will go to an authority to hound you is very small. If they have a choice of paying you $xxx vs paying lawyer's fees of $x,xxx or more, you win hands down. IAM NOT SUGGESTING your offer to sell for $xxx is extortion. I am saying you did some creative work to come up with the domain name and you want to be compensated for the creative work. Your request to be paid for your work is reasonable. I was originally responding to the comment that one should sell a disputed, innocent domain for reg fees only. Reg fee only does not compensate for the creative work you did.

If you make an offer to sell them the domain for $xxx and they turn it down, then go to the authority (paying fees of $x,xxx), and they win the case (which you have essentially conceded anyhow), you probably won't suffer. If they want to get two bites out of the same apple by going to the extent of trying to having you labelled a cybersquatter, you can turn around and sue them for abuse of process. You have 1) regged the domain in all innocence, 2) offered to sell at a reasonable price, a price that gives a small reward for the work you did, 3) suffered while they brought the case to authorities despite your reasonable offer. If you are being reasonable while they are being vindictive, bad on them. Make them pay for their unnecessary vindictiveness by putting the ball into their court.
 
NewYorkDude, while I agree it's reasonable to request a refund for the registration fee etc, I don't agree with your tactic on how to go about this.

I think any mention of court proceedings by you sounds like you are simply trying to extort money them.
 
Ceres and newyourdude - I appreciate your response and make sure what ever I decide I will be very cautious and take extra precaution at least for not to be named as "cyber squatter" ;-)

I will pm you the domain name that I am talking about ;-). Since the domain is an acronym, I will be very grateful if you can share your ideas what it can be called. Once I am happy with whatever you suggest I will start gathering articles and fill site very soon ;-)

Thanks again.
 

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