Thursday, February 13, 2014

#249 - americanexpresscreditcards.ca - TRANSFER GRANTED

The Complainant established its case and the Panel therefore directed the transfer of americanexpresscreditcards.ca to the Complainant.


The Registrant (Nameshield, Inc. – Daniel Mullen) responded to the Complaint. American Express Marketing & Development Corp. (“AMEX”) is the owner of the AMERICAN EXPRESS trade-marks registered in Canada since 1978 and 1979 for use in association with various credit card services.  First use dates as far back as 1891.   The Domain Name was registered on January 26, 2011.  The Domain Name resolves to a typical pay-per-click web site containing a series of links to various credit card companies’ websites, including the Complainant.     

The Registrant attempted to argue that the web site does not contain the logo or other trade dress of the Complainant and the operator of the pay-per-click service provides advertising on behalf of Google, Inc. 

The Panel held that the operation of a pay-per-click web site incorporating the Complainant’s trade-mark satisfies the bad faith requirements of paragraph 3.5 (d) of the CDRP. 

Mr. Mullen also unsuccessfully argued that he had a legitimate interest in the Domain Name because he was attempting to dispel the confusion about the financial services offered by the Complainant. 

You can read the decision here.  

#248 - amextravel.ca - TRANSFER GRANTED

The Complainant established its case and the Panel therefore directed the transfer of amextravel.ca to the Complainant.


The Registrant (Interex Corporate Registration Service Inc. which it argues is a “nominal registrant” protecting its client (which appears to be Daniel Mullen)) responded to the Complaint. American Express Marketing & Development Corp. (“AMEX”) is the owner of the AMEX and AMEX TRAVEL ASSURANCE trade-marks registered in Canada between 1987 and 2008 for use in association with various credit card and travel related services.  The Registrant attempted to argue that the Complainant’s trade-marks were not valid, and that the terms of the CDRP were also not valid, despite also agreeing to the wording of the Policy when it registered the Domain Name.  The Domain Name resolves to a typical pay-per-click web site containing a series of links to various credit card companies’ websites, including the Complainant. 

The Registrant unsuccessfully argued that it did not register the Domain Name in bad faith since it is the visitors to the web site that determine which links are included (presumably by previous searches made by each visitor).   

You can read the decision here

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

#247 - alamocar.ca - TRANSFER GRANTED

The Complainant established its case and the Panel transferred the domain name to the Complainant.


The Complainant is Vanguard Trademark Holdings USA, LLC, the owner of the ALAMO and ALAMO RENT-A-CAR trade-marks, used in Canada in association with automobile renting services. The Complainant has used the ALAMO trade-mark in Canada at least as early as 1998. The Registrant registered the disputed Domain Names on February 10, 2012 and did not respond to this Complaint. The Panelist found that the Domain Name was registered in bad faith partly because the web sites were disrupting the business of the Complainant - a section of the web sites were dedicated to related  links to other car rental services.  

You can read the decision here