#277 - scoutscanada.ca - TRANSFER REFUSED

The Complainant is Scouts Canada, first incorporated by act of Parliament in 1914 and owner of the trademark, Scouts Canada, filed for in 1991 and approved in 1992. ​The Domain Name was registered by 756870 B.C. Ltd. in 2009​. It resolves to a web site containing content critical of Scouts Canada. 

                                   

The Complainant did not file a copy of the registration of the trade-mark. While the Scouts Canada Act made Scouts Canada the Complainant’s name, that was not sufficient to satisfy the use requirement of the Policy because the Policy does not contemplate protecting rights arising from private statutes.

 

Neither party submitted any evidence of the content of the web site (other than opining on the content of the web site) and the Panel held that it was not proper for it to independently research the contents of the site. Accordingly, it found that there was no evidence of bad faith and refused to grant the transfer.

 

You can read the decision here.

#276 - moncler.ca - TRANSFER GRANTED

Moncler S.p.A., the Complainant, is a luxury outerwear brand that first registered its trademark in Canada in 1964.  The Registrant Michael Cohen registered <moncler.ca> without authorization in 2007. The Domain redirected to a notice that the Domain Name was available for sale. Prior to bringing this Complaint, the Registrant contacted Complainant with an unsolicited offer to sell the domain name – in excess of the $275,000.00 offered by an unknown entity.

 

The Registrant's counsel wrote to counsel for the Complainant stating that the offering of the Domain name for sale was an error, and that the Complaint was intending to use the domain in his transport business. The Panel found that there was no evidence to support these bald assertions and found that the Complaint had registered the domain in bad faith and had no reasonable interest in the Domain Name.  

#275 - metalor.ca - TRANSFER GRANTED

The Complainant, a precious metals firm, is the owner of the Canadian trade-mark METALOR, which was registered on September 9, 1994 and has been in use as early as 1982. 

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The Registrant (KMB Environmental Inc. c/o/b/ Michael Gupton) resolved the Domain Name to a pay-per-click website populated with sponsored links. The Complainant sent a letter to the Registrant through the CIRA message delivery form advising the Registrant of the Complainant’s rights but received no response. 

The Registrant did not technically respond to the Complaint, but did write several emails to the Panel stating that the domain was "parked", was not being used for any kind of commercial gain and the matter could have been resolved for the reimbursement of his reasonable out of pocket expenses .​ Nevertheless, the panel found that it is a "well-established principle" that resolving a domain name to pay-per-click sponsored links to competitors of a complainant may be considered evidence of bad faith and ordered the transfer of the Domain Name to the Complainant.

You can read the decision here.