CDRP SUMMARY #177 - TWENGA v. privacy protected

The Complainant established its case and the panelist therefore directed the transfer of twenga.ca to the Complainant. The private registrant (the first-ever CDRP decision with a privacy-protected identity) did not respond to the Complaint. The registration for the trade-mark TWENGA occurred after the registration date of the Domain Name in dispute. Although no evidence of prior use of the trade-mark (prior to the date of registration of the Domain Name) was filed, the panelist found the Complainant had rights in the Mark based on the Mark’s application date. This case will assist rights-holders given the panelist’s broad reading of the phrase “rights in the Mark”