TD Ameritrade IP Company, Inc. v. Domain Admin / Whois Privacy Corp.
Claim Number: FA1810001814302
Complainant is TD Ameritrade IP Company, Inc. (“Complainant”), represented by David M. Kramer of DLA Piper LLP, District of Columbia, USA. Respondent is Domain Admin / Whois Privacy Corp. (“Respondent”), Nassau, Bahamas.
REGISTRAR AND DISPUTED DOMAIN NAME
The domain name at issue is <adviserclient.com>, registered with Internet Domain Service BS Corp.
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.
Richard Hill as Panelist.
Complainant submitted a Complaint to the Forum electronically on October 30, 2018; the Forum received payment on October 30, 2018.
On November 1, 2018, Internet Domain Service BS Corp confirmed by e-mail to the Forum that the <adviserclient.com> domain name is registered with Internet Domain Service BS Corp and that Respondent is the current registrant of the name. Internet Domain Service BS Corp has verified that Respondent is bound by the Internet Domain Service BS Corp registration agreement and has thereby agreed to resolve domain disputes brought by third parties in accordance with ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy”).
On November 2, 2018, the Forum served the Complaint and all Annexes, including a Written Notice of the Complaint, setting a deadline of November 23, 2018 by which Respondent could file a Response to the Complaint, via e-mail to all entities and persons listed on Respondent’s registration as technical, administrative, and billing contacts, and to postmaster@adviserclient.com. Also on November 2, 2018, the Written Notice of the Complaint, notifying Respondent of the e-mail addresses served and the deadline for a Response, was transmitted to Respondent via post and fax, to all entities and persons listed on Respondent’s registration as technical, administrative and billing contacts.
Having received no response from Respondent, the Forum transmitted to the parties a Notification of Respondent Default.
On November 28, 2018, pursuant to Complainant's request to have the dispute decided by a single-member Panel, the Forum appointed Richard Hill as Panelist.
Having reviewed the communications records, the Administrative Panel (the "Panel") finds that the 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" through submission of Electronic and Written Notices, as defined in Rule 1 and Rule 2. Therefore, the Panel may issue its decision based on the documents submitted and in accordance with the ICANN Policy, ICANN Rules, the 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
Complainant states that it is a brokerage firm that uses the mark ADVISORCLIENT in connection with the provision of financial investment services. Complainant has common law rights in the ADVISORCLIENT mark based on registration of the domain name <advisorclient.com> in 1999 and its use to market financial investment services; furthermore, the mark was registered in the United States in 2013.
Complainant alleges that the disputed domain name is confusingly similar to its ADVISORCLIENT mark, as it merely misspells the mark by replacing the “o” for an “e,” and adds the generic top-level domain (“gTLD”) “.com.”.
According to Complainant, Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name. Respondent is not commonly known by the disputed domain name, nor has Complainant authorized Respondent to use the ADVISORCLIENT mark in any manner. Respondent’s use of the disputed domain name does not amount to a bona fide offering of goods or services or a legitimate noncommercial or fair use.
Further, says Complainant, Respondent registered and is using the disputed domain name in bad faith. Respondent attempts to disrupt Complainant business and attract, for commercial gain, users to the disputed domain name where it features links to Complainant’s competitors. Furthermore, Respondent engaged in typosquatting when it registered the disputed domain name.
B. Respondent
Respondent failed to submit a Response in this proceeding.
Complainant owns the mark ADVISORCLIENT and uses it to market financial services.
Complainant’s rights in its mark date back to 1999.
The disputed domain name was first registered on May 12, 2004; the registration was renewed on July 7, 2018.
Complainant has not licensed or otherwise authorized Respondent to use its mark.
The disputed domain name resolves to a website featuring click-through advertising links to competing third party 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."
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.
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(f), 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 (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.”).
Complainant asserts common law rights in its ADVISORCLIENT mark. Common law rights are sufficient to establish rights in a mark under Policy ¶ 4(a)(i). See Artistic Pursuit LLC v. calcuttawebdevelopers.com, FA 894477 (Forum Mar. 8, 2007) (finding that Policy ¶ 4(a)(i) does not require a trademark registration if a complainant can establish common law rights in its mark). Common law rights may be established through evidence of secondary meaning in the mark such as longstanding use, evidence of an identical domain name, media recognition, and promotional material and advertising. See Marquette Golf Club v. Al Perkins, 1738263 (Forum July 27, 2017) (finding that Complainant had established its common law rights in the MARQUETTE GOLF CLUB mark with evidence of secondary meaning, including “longstanding use; evidence of holding an identical domain name; media recognition; and promotional material/advertising.”). Here, Complainant registered the domain name <advisorclient.com> in 1999, and used it to market and to provide financial services well before the registration of the disputed domain name, as shown by <www.archive.org>. Further, Complainant used its ADVISORCLIENT mark in various promotional and advertising materials. Therefore, the Panel finds that Complainant established common law rights in its ADVISORCLIENT mark, with rights predating the first registration of the disputed domain name.
The disputed domain name is confusingly similar to Complainant’s ADVISORCLIENT mark, as the name is a minor misspelling of the mark. Addition of a gTLD (“.com”) and a change in one letter of the mark is not sufficient to overcome a confusingly similar analysis per Policy ¶ 4(a)(i). See Bank of America Corporation v. Above.com Domain Privacy, FA 1629452 (Forum Aug. 18, 2015) (finding that the <blankofamerica.com> domain name contains the entire BANK OF AMERICA mark and merely adds the gTLD ‘.com’ and the letter ‘l’ to create a common misspelling of the word ‘bank.’). Thus the Panel finds that the disputed domain name is confusingly similar to Complainant’s mark per Policy ¶ 4(a)(i).
Complainant has not authorized Respondent to use the ADVISORCLIENT mark in any manner. Respondent is not commonly known by the disputed domain name: where a Response is lacking, WHOIS information can support a finding that the respondent is not commonly known by a disputed domain name. See Chevron Intellectual Property LLC v. Fred Wallace, FA1506001626022 (Forum July 27, 2015) (finding that the respondent was not commonly known by the <chevron-europe.com> domain name under Policy ¶ 4(c)(ii), as the WHOIS information named “Fred Wallace” as registrant of the disputed domain name). Here, the WHOIS information of record identifies Respondent as “Domain Admin / Whois Privacy Corp.” The Panel therefore finds under Policy ¶ 4(c)(ii) that Respondent has not been commonly known by the disputed domain name.
Respondent lack rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name as evidenced by its failure to use the domain name to make a bona fide offer of goods or services or for a legitimate noncommercial or fair use. Instead, the disputed domain name resolves to a website which is being used to obtain click-through revenue by linking to competing, third-party websites. Use of a domain name to host competing, third-party links is not a use indicative of rights or legitimate interests per Policy ¶¶ 4(c)(i) or (iii). See Ashley Furniture Industries, Inc. v. domain admin / private registrations aktien gesellschaft, FA1506001626253 (Forum July 29, 2015) (“Respondent is using the disputed domain name to resolve to a web page containing advertising links to products that compete with those of Complainant. The Panel finds that this does not constitute a bona fide offering or a legitimate noncommercial or fair use.”). The Panel therefore finds that Respondent fails to use the disputed domain name to make a bona fide offer of goods or services or for a legitimate noncommercial or fair use under Policy ¶¶ 4(c)(i) or (iii). And the Panel finds that Respondent does not have rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name.
Respondent (who did not reply to Complainant’s contentions) has not presented any plausible explanation for its use of Complainant’s mark. In accordance with paragraph 14(b) of the Rules, the Panel shall draw such inferences from Respondent’s failure to reply as it considers appropriate. Accordingly, the Panel finds that Respondent did not have a legitimate use in mind when registering the disputed domain names.
Indeed, as already noted, Respondent is using the disputed domain name in an attempt to disrupt Complainant’s business by hosting links to competitors. This is sufficient to establish bad faith in a Policy ¶ 4(b)(iii) analysis. See Health Republic Insurance Company v. Above.com Legal, FA1506001622088 (Forum July 10, 2015) (“The use of a domain name’s resolving website to host links to competitors of a complainant shows intent to disrupt that complainant’s business, thereby showing bad faith in use and registration under Policy ¶ 4(b)(iii).”). The Panel therefore finds that Respondent is using the disputed domain name in bad faith per Policy ¶ 4(b)(iii).
Respondent’s bad faith is further indicated by its use of the domain to link to third-party, competing websites in an attempt to gain commercially by creating a likelihood of confusion with Complainant’s marks as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of Respondent’s website. Use of a domain name to resolve to a page of competing, third-party links can demonstrate a respondent’s bad faith per Policy ¶ 4(b)(iv). See Capital One Financial Corp. v. DN Manager / Whois-Privacy.Net Ltd, FA1504001615034 (Forum June 4, 2015) (holding that the respondent’s use of the <capitaloneonebank.com> domain name to display links to the complainant’s competitors, such as Bank of America, Visa, Chase and American Express constituted bad faith pursuant to Policy ¶ 4(b)(iv)). The Panel therefore finds that Respondent has used the domain name in bad faith per Policy ¶ 4(b)(iv).
Finally, Respondent’s bad faith is indicated by the practice of typosquatting as Respondent has merely changed one letter in Complainant’s mark in order to create the disputed domain name. Use of a domain name to typosquat in an attempt to gain commercially from the notoriety of a complainant’s mark is evidence of bad faith per Policy ¶ 4(a)(iii). See Webster Financial Corporation and Webster Bank, National Association v. IS / ICS INC, FA 16070016833 (Forum Aug. 11, 2016) (“Typosquatting is a practice whereby a domain name registrant, such as Respondent, deliberately introduces typographical errors or misspellings into a trademark and then uses the string in a domain name. The conniving registrant wishes and hopes that Internet users will inadvertently type the malformed trademark or read the domain name and believe it is legitimately associated with the target trademark. In doing so, wayward Internet users are fraudulently directed to a web presence controlled by the confusingly similar domain name’s registrant.”). Accordingly, the Panel finds that Respondent registered and is using the disputed domain name in bad faith per Policy ¶ 4(a)(iii) on this ground also.
Having established all three elements required under the ICANN Policy, the Panel concludes that relief shall be GRANTED.
Accordingly, it is Ordered that the <adviserclient.com> domain name be TRANSFERRED from Respondent to Complainant.
Richard Hill, Panelist
Dated: November 28, 2018
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