Thursday, September 6, 2018

#370 - basfproducts.ca - TRANSFER GRANTED

The Complainant stated that it is the largest chemical company in the world, and owner of the BASF trademark, with a family over 1,500 trademarks worldwide.  The Domain Name is not in use, and the Registrant did not respond to the Complaint.

The Panel found that the Domain Name was registered in bad faith because the trademark was so well known.  Additionally, there was evidence that the Registrant registered basfproduit.com, evidencing knowledge of the BASF trademark (and the French language, of course!).  Additionally, the panelist cited the "passive holding doctrine" in the WIPO overview, and given the strength of the Complainant's trademark, agreed that "good faith use" of the Domain Name is implausible.

You can read the decision here.