Choice Hotels International, Inc. v. Domain Administrator
Claim Number: FA0804001174413
Complainant is Choice Hotels International, Inc. (“Complainant”), represented by Halle
B. Markus, of Arent Fox PLLC,
REGISTRAR AND DISPUTED DOMAIN
NAME
The domain name at issue is <choicepriveleges.com>, registered with Enom, Inc.
The undersigned certifies that he has acted independently and impartially and, to the best of his knowledge, has no known conflict in serving as Panelist in this proceeding.
The Honorable Charles K. McCotter, Jr. (Ret.) as Panelist.
Complainant submitted a Complaint to the National Arbitration Forum electronically on April 1, 2008; the National Arbitration Forum received a hard copy of the Complaint on April 2, 2008.
On April 2, 2008, Enom, Inc. confirmed by e-mail to the National Arbitration Forum that the <choicepriveleges.com> domain name is registered with Enom, Inc. and that Respondent is the current registrant of the name. Enom, Inc. has verified that Respondent is bound by the Enom, Inc. registration agreement and has thereby agreed to resolve domain-name disputes brought by third parties in accordance with ICANN's Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the "Policy").
On April
4, 2008, a Notification of Complaint and Commencement of Administrative
Proceeding (the "Commencement Notification"), setting a deadline of
April 24, 2008
by which Respondent could file a
response to the Complaint, was transmitted to Respondent via e-mail, post and
fax, to all entities and persons listed on Respondent's registration as
technical, administrative and billing contacts, and to postmaster@choicepriveleges.com by e-mail.
Having received no response from Respondent, the National Arbitration Forum transmitted to the parties a Notification of Respondent Default.
On April 28, 2008, pursuant to Complainant's request to have the dispute decided by a single-member Panel, the National Arbitration Forum appointed the Honorable Charles K. McCotter, Jr. (Ret.) as Panelist.
Having reviewed the communications records, the Administrative Panel (the "Panel") finds that the National Arbitration Forum has discharged its responsibility under Paragraph 2(a) of the Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the "Rules") "to employ reasonably available means calculated to achieve actual notice to Respondent." Therefore, the Panel may issue its decision based on the documents submitted and in accordance with the ICANN Policy, ICANN Rules, the National Arbitration Forum's Supplemental Rules and any rules and principles of law that the Panel deems applicable, without the benefit of any response from Respondent.
Complainant requests that the domain name be transferred from Respondent to Complainant.
A. Complainant makes the following assertions:
1. Respondent’s <choicepriveleges.com> domain name is confusingly similar to Complainant’s CHOICE PRIVILEGES mark.
2. Respondent does not have any rights or legitimate interests in the <choicepriveleges.com> domain name.
3. Respondent registered and used the <choicepriveleges.com> domain name in bad faith.
B. Respondent failed to submit a Response in this proceeding.
Complainant offers hotel services for preferred customers and promotes its customer loyalty program under the CHOICE PRIVILEGES mark, which Complainant registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) on August 20, 2002 (Reg. No. 2,610,622). Complainant is one of the world’s largest lodging franchisors, with over 5,300 hotels in countries and territories throughout the world. Complainant has used the CHOICE PRIVILEGES mark continuously in commerce since August 2001.
Respondent registered the <choicepriveleges.com> domain name on July 13, 2006. The disputed domain name resolves to a website which features a commercial search engine that links to various competitors of Complainant offering online hotel reservation services.
Paragraph 15(a) of the Rules instructs this Panel to "decide a complaint on the basis of the statements and documents submitted in accordance with the Policy, these Rules and any rules and principles of law that it deems applicable."
In view of Respondent's failure to submit a response, the Panel shall decide this administrative proceeding on the basis of Complainant's undisputed representations pursuant to paragraphs 5(e), 14(a) and 15(a) of the Rules and draw such inferences it considers appropriate pursuant to paragraph 14(b) of the Rules. The Panel is entitled to accept all reasonable allegations and inferences set forth in the Complaint as true unless the evidence is clearly contradictory. See Vertical Solutions Mgmt., Inc. v. webnet-marketing, inc., FA 95095 (Nat. Arb. Forum July 31, 2000) (holding that the respondent’s failure to respond allows all reasonable inferences of fact in the allegations of the complaint to be deemed true); see also Talk City, Inc. v. Robertson, D2000-0009 (WIPO Feb. 29, 2000) (“In the absence of a response, it is appropriate to accept as true all allegations of the Complaint.”).
Paragraph 4(a) of the Policy requires that Complainant must prove each of the following three elements to obtain an order that a domain name should be cancelled or transferred:
(1) the domain name registered by Respondent is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which Complainant has rights; and
(2) Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and
(3) the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.
The Panel finds that Complainant has established rights in
the CHOICE PRIVILEGES mark for purposes of Policy ¶ 4(a)(i) through its
trademark registration with the USPTO. See Vivendi Universal Games v.
XBNetVentures Inc., FA 198803 (Nat. Arb. Forum Nov. 11, 2003)
(“Complainant's federal trademark registrations establish Complainant's rights
in the BLIZZARD mark.”); see also Smart
Design LLC v. Hughes, D2000-0993 (WIPO Oct. 18, 2000) (holding that ICANN
Policy ¶ 4(a)(i) does not require the complainant to demonstrate ‘exclusive
rights,’ but only that the complainant has a bona fide basis for making
the complaint in the first place).
Complainant contends that
Respondent’s <choicepriveleges.com> domain name is confusingly similar to its CHOICE
PRIVILEGES mark.
The <choicepriveleges.com> domain name differs from Complainant’s mark in three ways:
(1) the space between the words has been removed; (2) the letter “E” has
replaced the second “I” in the term “privileges”; and (3) the generic top-level
domain (“gTLD”) “.com” has been added. The
deletion of a space and the addition of a gTLD do not reduce the confusion
between a domain name and a mark; likewise, misspelling “privileges” in such a
familiar way as “priveleges” does not distinguish the disputed domain name from
the CHOICE PRIVILEGES mark. Therefore, the Panel finds that these changes do
not minimize or eliminate the resulting likelihood of confusion, and so
Respondent’s disputed domain name is not sufficiently distinguished from
Complainant’s mark pursuant to Policy ¶ 4(a)(i). See
Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Zuccarini, FA 94454 (Nat. Arb. Forum May
30, 2000) (finding the domain name <hewlitpackard.com> to be identical or
confusingly similar to the complainant’s HEWLETT-PACKARD mark); see also Belkin
Components v. Gallant, FA 97075 (Nat. Arb. Forum May 29, 2001) (finding the
<belken.com> domain name confusingly similar to the complainant's BELKIN
mark because the name merely replaced the letter “i” in the complainant's mark
with the letter “e”); see also Gardline Surveys Ltd. v. Domain Fin. Ltd.,
FA 153545 (Nat. Arb. Forum May 27, 2003) (“The addition of a top-level domain
is irrelevant when establishing whether or not a mark is identical or
confusingly similar, because top-level domains are a required element of every
domain name.”).
The Panel finds that Policy ¶ 4(a)(i) has been satisfied.
Complainant contends that Respondent lacks all rights and legitimate interests in the <choicepriveleges.com> domain name. Under Policy ¶ 4(a)(ii), after the complainant makes a prima facie case against the respondent, the respondent then has the burden of showing evidence that it does have rights and legitimate interests in the disputed domain name. Complainant has made a prima facie case under Policy ¶ 4(a)(ii). See Do The Hustle, LLC v. Tropic Web, D2000-0624 (WIPO Aug. 21, 2000) (holding that, where the complainant has asserted that the respondent has no rights or legitimate interests with respect to the domain name, it is incumbent on the respondent to come forward with concrete evidence rebutting this assertion because this information is “uniquely within the knowledge and control of the respondent”); see also Woolworths plc. v. Anderson, D2000-1113 (WIPO Oct. 10, 2000) (finding that, absent evidence of preparation to use the domain name for a legitimate purpose, the burden of proof lies with the respondent to demonstrate that it has rights or legitimate interests).
Complainant contends that Respondent is not commonly known
by the <choicepriveleges.com>
domain name nor have they ever been the owner or licensee of the CHOICE
PRIVILEGES mark. The WHOIS record for
the disputed domain name lists the Respondent as “Domain Administrator.” This evidence, along with the fact that
Respondent has failed to show any evidence contrary to Complainant’s
contentions, compels the Panel to find that Respondent is not commonly known as
<choicepriveleges.com> pursuant
to Policy ¶ 4(c)(ii). See Wells
Fargo & Co. v. Onlyne Corp. Services11, Inc., FA 198969 (Nat. Arb. Forum Nov. 17, 2003) (“Given the
WHOIS contact information for the disputed domain [name], one can infer that
Respondent, Onlyne Corporate Services11, is not commonly known by the name
‘welsfargo’ in any derivation.”); see
also MRA Holding, LLC v. Costnet, FA 140454 (Nat. Arb. Forum
Feb. 20, 2003) (noting that “the disputed domain name does not even correctly
spell a cognizable phrase” in finding that the respondent was not “commonly
known by” the name “girls gon wild” or <girlsgonwild.com>).
Respondent maintains a website at <choicepriveleges.com> featuring a commercial search engine that links to various competitors of Complainant offering online hotel reservation services. The Panel finds that this use of the domain name <choicepriveleges.com> is neither a bona fide offering of goods or services under Policy ¶ 4(c)(i) nor a legitimate noncommercial or fair use under Policy ¶ 4(c)(iii). See Black & Decker Corp. v. Clinical Evaluations, FA 112629 (Nat. Arb. Forum June 24, 2002) (holding that the respondent’s use of the disputed domain name to redirect Internet users to commercial websites, unrelated to the complainant and presumably with the purpose of earning a commission or pay-per-click referral fee did not evidence rights or legitimate interests in the domain name); see also Pioneer Hi-Bred Int’l Inc. v. Chan, FA 154119 (Nat. Arb. Forum May 12, 2003) (finding that the respondent did not have rights or legitimate interests in a domain name that used the complainant’s mark and redirected Internet users to a website that pays domain name registrants for referring those users to its search engine and pop-up advertisements).
The Panel finds that Policy ¶ 4(a)(ii) has been satisfied.
Complainant contends that Respondent is using the disputed
domain name to divert Internet customers from Complainant’s website to
Respondent’s website that resolves from the disputed domain name, through the
confusion caused by the similarity between the CHOICE PRIVILEGES mark and the <choicepriveleges.com> domain name. The Panel finds that Respondent’s use of the
disputed domain name disrupts Complainant’s business, and is evidence of
registration and use in bad faith pursuant to Policy ¶ 4(b)(iii).
Complainant also contends that Respondent is gaining
commercially through this diversion, both through click-through fees and
through the search engine that connects Internet visitors to services competing
with Complainant’s business. The Panel
finds that this is an intentional use of the disputed domain name for
commercial gain through a likelihood of confusion with Complainant’s mark, and
so, pursuant to Policy ¶ 4(b)(iv), this use is also evidence of registration
and use in bad faith. See Bank of Am. Corp. v.
The Panel finds that Policy ¶ 4(a)(iii) has been satisfied.
Having established all three elements required under the ICANN Policy, the Panel concludes that relief shall be GRANTED.
Accordingly, it is Ordered that the <choicepriveleges.com> domain name be TRANSFERRED from Respondent to Complainant.
The Honorable Charles K. McCotter, Jr. (Ret.), Panelist
Dated: May 8, 2008
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