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.
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