The Complainant is the owner of the DESIGUAL design trademark
registered in Canada in association with clothing since 1999. The Domain Name
was registered in January, 2010 and the Registrant argues that DESIGUAL is generic
and is Spanish for “uneven, unequal and one-sided”. The Domain Name was hyperlinked to
giftagreen.com, a business that appeared on Dragon’s Den and its tea products
are sold in 500+ stores across Canada. Additionally, an offer to sell the Domain
Name for $40,000.00 and on another occasion for $50,000.00 was not unsolicited.
The Panel found that the backwards ‘S’ in the Complainant’s
design trademark does not alter the finding of confusion. The Panel further held that the legitimacy of
the giftagreen.com business is not in issue in the Complaint. Additionally, the Panel found that the Domain
Name was registered in bad faith because the Registrant used the DESIGUAL mark to
hyperlink its site to giftagreen.com.
You can read the decision here.
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