Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center recently issued, with respect to our US client's domain name arbitration case represented by our firm, the decision in favor of our client. Then our client can successfully get back the domain name with its brand at .net.
Brief information about the case:
Our US client's parent company registered the trademark in USA for its brand twenty years ago. However, the US client or its parent company has not obtained the trademark exclusive rights for such brand in China; while the operator of a Chinese company filed the trademark registration application for this brand, which is still pending and under examination.
The US company previously found that a Chinese company registered a domain name with the US company's brand at .com.cn, at the website directed by which the Chinese company sold similar products with such brand. We filed the complaint to Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center of CIETAC and requested to transfer this domain name to our client. The Panel of the Center determined upon examination that our client has legitimate rights on the brand, the Chinese company has no legitimate rights or interest over the disputed domain name, and the Chinese company's registration and use of the disputed domain name destroy the regular order of the market, which suffices to causes confusion or mistake, and therefore directs the disputed domain name biamp.com.cn be transferred to our client.
Later, the US company found that another Chinese company registered a domain name with the US company's brand at .net, at the website directed by which this another Chinese company sold similar products with such brand.
After conducting investigation and collecting evidences, we represented our client to file the complaint to Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center, with claiming the US company's rights on the brand, stating the another Chinese company's bad faith in registering this domain name and selling similar goods at the website directed by this domain name, and requesting to transfer this domain name to our client. The Panel of the Center determined upon examination that our client has legitimate rights on the brand, the Chinese company has no legitimate rights or interest over the disputed domain name and has bad faith in registering and using this disputed domain name, and therefore directs the disputed domain name biamp.net be transferred to our client. It took more than two months from filing this arbitration case to obtaining the decision.
Attorney's comments:
Our client, after successfully getting back the domain name biamp.com.cn through the previous domain name arbitration case, found another Chinese company registered biamp.net, and sold the similar goods at the website directed by biamp.net. During the investigation, it is found that the Chinese company registering the previous domain name biamp.com.cn and the another Chinese company registering biamp.net domain name have the same operator who actually applied for registering the biamp mark in China. Thus it is very important to closely watch the market, monitoring any possible infringement, and then take actions when necessary. Of course, it is also crucial to register marks and domain names as earlier as possible in order to protect the IP rights.
