The Complainant established its case and the panelist
therefore directed the transfer of ndgraphics.ca to the Complainant.
The registrant (David Allsebrook) did not respond to the
Complaint. ND Graphics Inc. is an online supplier of equipment and material for
the sign and imaging industry. The ND
GRAPHICS trade-mark was registered in Canada in 1991, but used as early as 1983. The Registrant’s Domain Name was being used to
redirect visitors to the Registrant’s own business, www.allsigns.com. The
Domain Name was registered in May, 2012.
In July, 2012, the Registrant contacted the Complainant in order to
purchase a printer and invited the sales representative of ND Graphics to visit
the Domain Name. A cease and desist letter was served immediately thereafter and
the Registrant offered to sell the Domain Name to the Complainant for
$150,000.00. As part of its bad-faith
analysis, the panel found that the registrant did business with ND Graphics and
therefore knew about their name and trade-mark.
They also found that linking the Domain Name to the Registrant’s own
business suggests mischievous intent.
Lastly, the $150,000.00 offer suggests that the Registrant’s only motive
was to ransom the Domain Name to the Complainant.
You can read the decision here.
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