The Complainant established its case and the panelist
therefore directed the transfer of chevroletorlando.ca to the Complainant.
The registrant (Ryan Thompson) did not respond to the
Complaint. General Motors LLC is a well-known automotive manufacturing company. The CHEVROLET trade-mark was registered in
Canada in 2005, but used as early as 1957. The ORLANDO trade-mark also relied
upon by the Complainant is based on proposed use in Canada (the mark was
allowed in August, 2009 and 2 extensions of time were granted by CIPO). The Registrant’s Domain Name is currently
being used as a “pay-per-click” site. The section 3.3 analysis will assist
rights-holders given the Panelist’s acceptance that a Domain Name comprised of
a registered trade-mark together with a proposed-use trade-mark application is
confusingly similar. The panelist would
have accepted the CHEVROLET mark on its own given the dominance and
distinctiveness of the mark.