INDRP & Trademark Domains

[Ceres]

The following two INDRP decisions involve well-known trademarks, and the disputed domains were registered after the complainant obtained its trademark in India.

Neither respondent submitted a response.

(1) Yamaha.co.in

Yamaha owns the very well-known mark YAMAHA. Yamaha sent a number of notices via registered post and courier to the respondent, however these were returned "address not traceable" (sounds like the registrant give a fake address). Yamaha also sent correspondence via email but received no response. INDRP proceedings were commenced and Yamaha won the domain

(2) Intesa.in

The banking group Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A owns the mark INTESA. It is a well-known trademark registered in over 25 countries including India.

A few months after obtaining the domain, the respondent tried to sell it to Intesa for a "substantial price." Intesa refused to accept this offer and commenced INDRP proceedings. Intesa won the domain.

 

[Jeff]

Look like fair decisions.

 

[Ceres]

It's no surprise that Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A also won Intesa.co.in. The domain was registered on the same day as Intesa.in (by the same respondent).

Here's the INDRP decision.

 

[meditang]

It's no surprise that Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A also won Intesa.co.in. The domain was registered on the same day as Intesa.in (by the same respondent).

Here's the INDRP decision.

In fact intesa.in and intesa.co.in dropped together on 3rd August and were registered by Intesa Sanpaolo on 4th August. The previous registrant seems to have got the domains deleted.

 

[Ceres]

Thanks for the info meditang. Does this happen a lot after an INDRP case? I know the respondent didn't respond to the two cases, so I wonder if that's why the domains were deleted rather than transferred directly to Intesa Sanpaolo?

 

[meditang]

This is the first time I have seen a domain under INDRP being deleted. Usually the domain gets locked once it goes to INDRRP.
This time, however, even before INDRP decision was made, the domains were deleted and hand registered by the complainant.

 

[Ceres]

A third win for Intesa: INDRP Decision:IntesaSanpaolo.in

 

[Ceres]

A fourth win for Intesa: IntesaSanpaolo.co.in. An easy win as the case involved an obvious trademarked domain.

Intesa must be closely monitoring domain registrations that infringe on its trademark. The respondent registered the domain in February 2010. Less than two months later, Intesa filed its INDRP complaint.

As you will see from the decision, the respondent was given a chance to surrender the domain but he didn't do this. In the end, the Arbitrator ordered as follows:

Respondent is ordered to pay the Complainant a sum of Rs.5,00,000/- (Indian Rupees five lakh only) towards costs of the proceedings.