Aston Martin Lagonda Limited v. et al.
Claim Number: FA2101001929465
Complainant: Aston Martin Lagonda Limited, of Gaydon, United Kingdom.
Complainant Representative: Aaron B Newell, of London, United Kingdom.
Respondent: Privacy Protect of Zwolle, International, NL.
Respondent Representative: Not applicable
REGISTRIES and REGISTRARS
Registries: GMO Registry, Inc.; Premier Registry Limited
Registrars: Realtime Register B.V.
The undersigned certifies that he has acted independently and impartially and to the best of his knowledge has no known conflict in serving as Examiner in this proceeding.
Jeffrey M. Samuels, as Examiner.
Complainant submitted: January 25, 2021
Commencement: January 26, 2021
Default Date: February 10, 2021
Having reviewed the communications records, the Examiner finds that the Forum has discharged its responsibility under URS Procedure, Paragraphs 3 and 4, and Rule 4 of the Rules for the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (the "Rules").
Complainant requests that the domain name be suspended for the life of the registration.
Clear and convincing evidence.
Complainant Aston Martin Lagonda Limited (AML) is an internationally renowned UK-based maker of luxury sports cars with over 150 dealerships in over 50 countries, including the Respondent’s home country, Netherlands. AML has a longstanding history in auto racing and, in April 2020, announced that it will launch in 2021 its own F1 team, ASTON MARTIN RACING. The announcement received widespread media attention.
AML owns trademark registrations in over 95 countries around the world, including EUTM 008367815 for the mark ASTON MARTIN.
The disputed domain names, astonmartinf1.racing, astonmartinf1team.racing, and astonmartinf1team.shop, resolve to a generic holding page.
Even though the Respondent has defaulted, URS Procedure 1.2.6 requires Complainant to make a prima facie case, proven by clear and convincing evidence, for each of the following three elements to obtain an order that a domain name should be suspended.
1. Confusing Similarity/Rights/Current Use
The Examiner finds that each of the disputed domain names is confusingly similar to the ASTON MARTIN trademark as each consists of the mark in its entirety followed by descriptive and generic matter. The evidence further indicates that Complainant owns a valid national or regional registration for the ASTON MARTIN mark and that the mark is currently in use.
2. Rights or Legitimate Interests
The Examiner finds that Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in any of the disputed domain names. Complainant asserts that Respondent is not licensed or otherwise authorized to the use the ASTON MARTIN mark. There also is no evidence that Respondent is commonly known by any of the disputed domain names or that Respondent is making any use of the domain names.
3. Bad faith registration and use
The Examiner finds that Respondent registered and is using each of the disputed domain names in bad faith. Given the longstanding and widespread use of the ASTON MARTIN mark, Respondent may be assumed to have had knowledge of such mark at the time it registered each of the domain names in issue. Particularly relevant on the issue of bad faith registration is the fact that Respondent registered the domain names shortly after AML announced the Aston Martin Racing F1 team in April 2020. From this, it may be found that Respondent, through its registration of the domain names, sought to take advantage of the announcement and launch and preempt AML from registering the most relevant domain names at the .racing and .shop TLDs. Respondent’s current passive use of the disputed domain names also supports a finding of bad faith use.
After reviewing Complainant’s submissions, the Examiner determines that
Complainant has demonstrated all three elements of the URS by a standard of clear and convincing evidence. The Examiner hereby Orders the following domain names be SUSPENDED for the duration of the registration:
astonmartinf1.racing
astonmartinf1team.racing
astonmartinf1team.shop
Jeffrey M. Samuels, Examiner
Dated: February 10, 2021
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