The Complainant and its partner Brand.Live Management Group Inc. have been producing a contemporary music festival in Squamish, BC since 2010, and using the name Squamish Valley Music Festival from November 2012 to March, 2016. The trademark was registered in 2016.
In 2013 after the Registrant registered the Domain Name, the web site was technically inactive (under development). The parties attempted to negotiate a resolution including transfer of the Domain Name, but failed. In March, 2016, after the announcement that the festival was cancelled, the parties continued to communicate, and the Registrant advised that he "also might be interested in running a smaller version of the Squamish Valley Music Festival as a temporary use on my Garibaldi Springs Golf Lands".
The Panel found that the Registrant registered the Domain Name in bad faith because the evidence clearly shows that the Registrant knew of the rights belonging to the Complainant and had no affiliation with nor lice to use the trademarks and is essentially a competitor of the Complainant. Further, the Registrant engaged in a "pattern of unauthorized registrations" by registering other .com's using the Complainant's trademark.
You can read the decision here.
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