Wednesday, March 1, 2023

#493 - blockchainubc.ca - TRANSFER GRANTED

 The Complainant owns the family of UBC trademarks.  The Registrant's website provided information about blockchain technology under the prominently displayed domain name, and was for sale at an excessive price.   

The Panel found that the Registrant wanted to cause confusion by causing the domain name to resolve to its own website to give the impression that the Complainant was lending its good name to its promotion. Further, Panel found bad faith generally because the Registrant used a very similar domain name to the Complainant's - blockchain.ubc.ca. 

You can read the decision here

Thursday, February 16, 2023

#492 - equofax.ca

 The Complainant Equifax is a leading global provider of information solutions and human resources business process outsourcing services for businesses, governments and consumers. Equifax Canada owns the Canadian Equifax trademark.  

The disputed domain name redirect visitors to a website at “https://freecreditscore.credit/” that promotes the sale of the Domain Name. 

The Panel found that the Domain Name was registered in bad faith because, among other reasons, the Domain Name appears to reference to some of the services provided by the Complainant with an intention to confuse Internet users.

You can read the decision here.


Monday, January 30, 2023

#491 - wsib-on.ca - TRANSFER GRANTED

The Complainant is a statutory corporation and independent agency of the Ontario government - WSIB is the workplace compensation board for provincially-regulated workplaces. It owns numerous official marks. It owns and operates the wsib.on.ca domain name (and wsib.ca). 

The Complainant states that the Registrant egregiously used fake email addresses to impersonate WSIB in-house counsel, and attempted to perpetrate a fraudulent wire transfer payment scheme. 


The Panl held that the evidence supports a finding that the Domain name was registered for the express purpose of perpetrating a targeted and sophisticated fraud attempt against WSIB.

You can read the decision here

#490 - eequifax.ca - TRANSFER GRANTED

The Complainant offers products derived from credit information maintained about individual consumer and businesses, and owns the EQUIFAX trademark. The Domain was registered 46 years after registrations of the Complainant's trademarks in Canada. 

The Panel held that the Domain Name was registered in bad faith, and the pay-per-click links forwarded users to competing services - this was considered "opportunistic bad faith". 

#489 - imax.ca - TRANSFER GRANTED

 The Complainant uses the IMAX trademark in association for its notorious motion picture and movie theatre services. 

It inadvertently let its 20+ year ownership of the disputed Domain Name lapse (in September, 2021).  Further, the Registrant attempted to negotiate purchase of the Domain Name in the amount of $180,000.00 USD. The Registrant responded (late) and took the position that it is a small web development company, and takes the position that numerous IMAX marks are owned by numerous third parties...and "i" is used before consumer products in a generic way.

The Panelist found that the Domain Name was registered in bad faith, and held that Registrants have an affirmative obligation to avoid the registration of trademark-abusive domain names. 

You can read the decision here

Tuesday, January 3, 2023

#488 - monsmile.ca - TRANSFER GRANTED

The Complainant owns a clinic in Quebec and uses the mark MonSmile.  Allegedly, the Complainant retained a company (Starkad Inc.) to fulfil marketing for the dental practice, and the "Registrant" (whom they never met) worked on the marketing initiative on behalf of Starkad Inc., but was never paid.  The Registrant did not respond to the Complaint. 

The Panel found that the Domain Name was registered in bad faith due in part to its failure to respond to the Complaint.

You can read the decision here