Combined Insurance Group Ltd
v. Xedoc Holding SA c/o domain admin
Claim Number: FA0905001261545
PARTIES
Complainant is Combined Insurance Group Ltd (“Complainant”), represented by Philip
J. Foret, of Dilworth Paxson LLP,
REGISTRAR AND DISPUTED DOMAIN NAME
The domain name at issue is <cheapautoinsurance.com>, registered
with Fabulous.com
Pty Ltd.
PANEL
The undersigned certifies that the panel has acted independently and
impartially and to the best of his knowledge have no known conflict in serving
as Panelists in this proceeding.
Daniel B. Banks, Jr.
Professor David E. Sorkin
Peter L. Michaelson, as Panelists.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Complainant submitted a Complaint to the National Arbitration Forum
electronically on May 6, 2009; the
National Arbitration Forum received a hard copy of the Complaint on May 7, 2009.
On May 7, 2009, Fabulous.com Pty Ltd. confirmed by e-mail to
the National Arbitration Forum that the <cheapautoinsurance.com> domain name
is registered with Fabulous.com Pty Ltd.
and that the Respondent is the current registrant of the name. Fabulous.com
Pty Ltd. has verified that Respondent is bound by the Fabulous.com Pty Ltd. 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 May 13, 2009, a Notification
of Complaint and Commencement of Administrative Proceeding (the “Commencement
Notification”), setting a deadline of June 2, 2009 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@cheapautoinsurance.com by e-mail.
Respondent's Response was received
in hard copy on June 2, 2009. However, in
that the hard copy was received subsequent to the Response deadline, the
Response is considered deficient under ICANN Rule 5.
A timely additional submission was submitted by Complainant on June 9,
2009 and was considered by the Panel. Respondent
filed a Response to Complainant’s Supplemental Filing which was deemed
deficient as not timely filed.
Respondent then filed an Amended Response to Complainant’s Supplemental
Filing which is not provided for in the Rules.
Since neither filing by Respondent affected the decision of the Panel,
they were not considered.
On June 10, 2009, pursuant to Complainant’s
request to have the dispute decided by a three-member Panel, the National
Arbitration Forum appointed Professor David E. Sorkin, Peter L. Michaelson and
Daniel B. Banks, Jr., as Panelists.
RELIEF SOUGHT
Complainant requests that the domain name be transferred from
Respondent to Complainant.
PARTIES’ CONTENTIONS
A. Complainant
Since 1993, Complainant has used and continues to use its CHEAP AUTO
INSURANCE mark in connection with identifying, promoting and providing
insurance services. The mark has accrued
substantial goodwill through its use in commerce and Complainant has invested
substantial financial and other resources in developing, protecting and using
its brand and mark in connection with its auto insurance business.
Complainant has continuously used its CHEAP AUTO INSURANCE mark or
derivatives thereof in conjunction with its Internet website <cheap-auto-insurance.com>
since 1996. The website provides users
the ability to access pages relating to Complainant’s insurance services for
each of the 50
Complainant owns a
On February 17, 2009, Complainant obtained a
Respondent’s <cheapautoinsurance.com>
domain name, which was registered on September 10, 1998, provides a business
advertising website for the auto insurance industry. It also provides information and links to
contacts for insurance brokerages, agents, and insurance carriers and provides
insurance quotes for insurance carriers in
Respondent only recently launched the offending website in 2009 after
years of keeping the domain name inactive or parked or using it to post a single
page with a “For Sale” sign.
Complainant contends that the disputed domain name is identical or
confusingly similar to a trademark/service mark in which Complainant has rights
and in which the Respondent should be considered as having no rights. Respondent’s adoption of Complainant’s mark is
cybersquatting and is conclusory evidence that Respondent lacks rights or
legitimate interests in the disputed domain name. Also, none of the three protections for
domain name registrants provided in Policy 4(c)(i)-(iii), including that
Respondent is making a bona fide
offering of goods or services, is commonly known by the domain name, and is
making a legitimate noncommercial or fair use of the domain name are available
to the Respondent.
Respondent’s use of the disputed domain name is to operate a website
that competes directly with Complainant.
It is not a bona fide offering
of goods or services under the Policy.
Respondent is not commonly known as <cheapautoinsurance.com>
and is not authorized by Complainant to use the mark. Respondent is obtaining commercial gain by
diverting consumers to its website which contains a search function for auto
insurance information and links to insurance agents. It can be inferred that Respondent is
receiving pay-per-click fees from advertisers when users follow the links on
the site.
The disputed domain name should be considered as having been registered
and used in bad faith. Respondent offered
the name for sale to the general public at the site. It was maintained as an inactive domain name
and passively held by Respondent.
Respondent is cybersquatting by adopting a domain name essentially
identical and confusingly similar to Complainant’s mark.
B. Respondent
Complainant’s claim of a USPTO registered mark provides only prima facie evidence of trademark
rights. A State registered mark is not
even prima facie evidence and
requires proof of common law trademark rights.
That requires presentation of evidence of both use and secondary
meaning.
Complainant’s own use does not indicate trademark use. The <cheap-auto-insurance.com> site is
merely a parking site. All of the
services described on the website were provided by third parties. The telephone numbers listed are associated
with third party insurance brokers. The
links merely redirected users to various third parties. In short, Complainant does not use the mark
to provide services. Rather, Complainant
uses its site to merely direct traffic to third parties who perform all of the
services. Also, Complainant uses the
term “cheap auto insurance” descriptively.
Complainant’s federal registration was based on an Intent to Use
application, meaning that Complainant did not claim actual use as of 2006. Following 3 denials, registration was
obtained on February 17, 2009 only under Section 2(f). Registration under that section requires only
a prima facie showing that the mark
has been used on a substantially exclusive and continuous basis for the 5 preceding
years. USPTO registration creates a prima facie presumption that Complainant
has satisfied Policy 4(a)(i) which will only succeed if uncontested. If the Respondent puts forward a plausible
case contradicting the prima facie
argument, the panel must decide the issue on the basis of all of the evidence
with the Complainant carrying the ultimate burden of proof. By applying under Section 2(f), Complainant
admitted that its mark was descriptive. Moreover, Complainant was obligated to
disclaim the phrase “auto insurance” apart from the mark. The remaining term “cheap” is merely
laudatory and itself incapable of adding registration significance. The evidence is overwhelming that the mark is
merely descriptive. Google lists over 32
million web pages using the phrase “cheap auto insurance.”
Complainant provides no evidence of any use of the mark prior to
1999. Until 2006, the use was limited to
the <cheap-auto-insurance.com> domain name – which is a simple internet
address and not a trademark use. In
fact, from 2003-2005, Complainant’s site did not use the term at all. Rather it used “Insure Direct” and “Combined
Insurance Group.”
Complainant’s
Respondent has a right or legitimate interest in the domain name. The burden is on the Complainant to establish
its claim – it is not for the Respondent to prove the contrary. Respondent is not required to show a superior
right, only that it has “a” legitimate right or interest. Respondent has shown legitimate rights or
interests. Respondent has registered and
used the disputed domain name in a manner directly related to its descriptive
meaning. Respondent did not target
Complainant. It did not even know
Complainant or the mark existed prior to receipt of the complaint.
Complainant waited over 16 years from its claimed first use to file
this complaint. Xedoc has openly used
the domain name and has spent valuable time and resources developing affiliate
relationships for use in connection with the domain name and in acquiring
numerous other insurance related domain names.
Complainant is charged with policing its own asserted marks and thus
knew or should have known of the existence of the domain name.
Complainant is a practiced domainer and actively registers domain names
for use in PPC, holding approximately 236 other insurance related domain names
that are either parked as PPC pages or used to drive traffic to its PPC
sites.
Respondent did not register the domain name primarily to disrupt a
Competitor nor to divert traffic from Complainant. It was registered because of its inherently
descriptive nature and has been used in connection with the obvious and widely
used meaning of the phrase.
There is no evidence of bad faith.
Mere assertions of bad faith are not sufficient. Any prima
facie presumption of bad faith vanishes upon Respondent’s presentation of a
plausible reason for registration. The
disputed domain name was registered prior to any trademark; the phrase is
inherently descriptive; the three words are generic and are commonly used to
describe low-cost insurance; there is wide-spread public use as a descriptive
term; Complainant uses the term descriptively; and, Complainant waited over 16
years to assert any claim.
A prior offer of sale is not bad faith.
An inactive domain can be evidence of bad faith but only in the absence
of any other factors showing actual use or preparations for use. Xedoc’s actual use is shown by actual images
of the site being used in a manner consistent with its descriptive meaning.
In conclusion, Complainant has no trademark sufficient for the Policy
and even if it did, Xedoc has a legitimate interest and neither registered nor
used the domain name in bad faith.
Respondent claims Complainant has engaged in Reverse Domain Name
Hijacking. Complainant has acted in bad
faith. It has not shown an absence of
legitimate interest and bad faith registration and use by Respondent.
C. Additional Submissions
Complainant submitted a timely Additional Submission which was
considered by the Panel. Respondent
submitted an Additional Submission which was received in hard copy subsequent
to the Response deadline and was considered by the Forum not to be in
compliance with ICANN Rule 5. Respondent
also submitted an Amended Additional Submission for which there is no provision
in the Rules. Because neither of
Respondent’s Additional Submissions affected the decision of the panel, they
were not considered.
Complainant’s Additional Submission states that Complainant is a full
service national insurance agency holding licenses in 46 states and having
written nearly $300 million dollars in policy premiums since 1993. Complainant claims a vested interest in
protecting its valuable brand and registered service mark. It says that Respondent ignores Complainant’s
common-law and federal rights in the mark.
Complainant says it has satisfied the elements of the Policy by showing
the mark to be confusingly similar to its trademarks; that Respondent has no
rights or legitimate interest in the disputed domain name; and that the
disputed domain name was registered in bad faith.
Complainant also says that Respondent’s claim of Reverse Domain Name
Hijacking is an attempt to divert the attention of the panel away from the
considerations under ICANN Rules and Policy.
With respect to Respondent claim of laches, Complainant says that ICANN
Rules and Policies do not apply to the Doctrine of Laches.
Although much of the material in Complainant’s Additional Submission
merely reiterates arguments made in Complainant’s initial submission, the Panel
has considered the Additional Submission to the extent that it addresses
matters that could not reasonably have been included in the prior submission.
FINDINGS
The first finding of this Panel relates to
the voluminous submissions in this case.
The physical weight of the submissions exceeds 26 pounds! The supplemental filings basically duplicated
and amplified prior arguments, and in so doing provided little real value to us.
Counsel could have and should have been
far more succinct and direct than they were.
See WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature
v. Moniker Online Services LLC, D2006-0975 (WIPO Nov. 1, 2006) (noting that
submission of an “overkill” of documentation is oppressive for the provider and
the panel, and suggesting that voluminous submissions by a complainant may be
indicative that the dispute is not susceptible to adjudication under the
Policy).
The Panel having reached a unanimous decision
that Complainant is not entitled to the relief requested, only those findings
relevant to the Decision will be discussed.
The Panel finds that this case distills to a
rather simple analysis. Complainant
states that it has a registered trademark and common law rights in the mark
CHEAP AUTO INSURANCE. The registered
trademark was registered based on Section 2(f) which presumes distinctiveness
after 5 years of continuous use.
Respondent is using the disputed domain name,
which is identical to the mark of Complainant, as an address of a website that
provides auto insurance through carriers which compete with Complainant. Use of the domain name in this fashion
apparently began well before Complainant became aware of the Respondent’s
website in 2009. The Panel finds that
the Respondent is using the words that form the name in their commonly
understood meaning in connection with services it offers through its website,
i.e. “cheap auto insurance” meaning relatively inexpensive auto insurance as
compared to other sources. The words are
not being used in a trademark sense but rather in their commonly understood
descriptive sense. Such use is not
designed to trade off the good will and reputation of anyone else.
The Panel finds that paragraph 4(c)(i) of the
policy applies in that Respondent was making a bona fide offering of services prior to the date when Respondent
became aware of the dispute. Therefore,
the Panel finds that Respondent has rights and legitimate interests in the
name.
Since the Complainant has not established a
lack of rights and legitimate interests in the Respondent, it has failed to
establish each of the three elements of the Policy as required. Therefore, the Panel does not need to consider
the other elements.
The Panel also finds that there is no Reverse
Domain Name Hijacking.
DISCUSSION
Paragraph 15(a) of the Rules for Uniform Domain
Name Dispute Resolution Policy (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 the 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 the Respondent
is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the
Complainant has rights;
(2) the 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 not established
a prima facie case in support of its arguments that Respondent lacks
rights and legitimate interests under Policy ¶ 4(a)(ii). See Terminal Supply, Inc. v. HI-LINE ELECTRIC, FA 746752 (Nat. Arb. Forum
Aug. 24, 2006) (holding that the complainant did not satisfactorily meet its
burden and as a result found that the respondent had rights and legitimate
interests in the domain name under UDRP ¶ 4(a)(ii)); see also Workshop Way, Inc. v.
Harnage, FA 739879 (Nat. Arb. Forum Aug. 9, 2006) (finding that the
respondent overcame the complainant’s burden by showing it was making a bona
fide offering of goods or services at the disputed domain name).
Respondent asserts that its website content relates
to the descriptive phrase that comprises the <cheapautoinsurance.com> domain
name. Respondent further asserts that
its use of the disputed domain name for a pay-per-click site is a bona fide offering of goods and
services. The Panel agrees and
finds that Respondent has used the disputed domain name in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services
pursuant to Policy ¶ 4(c)(i) or a legitimate fair use pursuant to Policy ¶
4(c)(iii). See Eastbay Corp. v.
VerandaGlobal.com, Inc., FA 105983 (Nat. Arb. Forum May 20, 2002) (finding
that the respondent’s use of the disputed domain name, which was comprised of
generic terms, as a portal to a commercial website featuring various
advertisements and links constituted a bona fide offering of goods or
services pursuant to Policy ¶ 4(c)(i)); see
also Advanced Drivers Educ. Prods. & Training, Inc. v. MDNH,
Inc., FA
567039 (Nat. Arb. Forum Nov. 10, 2005) (finding that the disputed domain name
was not used in the trademark sense, but was “a descriptor of the site’s
intended content or theme,” and therefore that complainant failed to prove that
Respondent lacked any rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain
name). The Panel recognizes that
Complainant may have a tenable trademark claim against Respondent based upon Respondent’s
use of the disputed domain name, notwithstanding Respondent’s intention to use
the term in its descriptive sense; but at most this is a legitimate trademark
dispute not susceptible to adjudication under the Policy. See
Vail Corp. v. Resort Destination Marketing, FA 1106470 (Nat. Arb. Forum
Jan. 2, 2008).
Reverse Domain Name Hijacking
Although the Panel has found that
the Complainant has failed to satisfy its burden under the Policy, the Panel
does not conclude that the Complainant acted in bad faith in bringing its Complaint. Hence, the Panel rejects Respondent’s request
to find Reverse Domain Name Hijacking.
DECISION
Having failed to establish all three elements required under the ICANN
Policy, the Panel concludes that relief shall be DENIED.
Daniel B. Banks, Jr., Panel Chair
Professor David E. Sorkin, Panelist
Peter L. Michaelson, Panelist
Dated: June 26, 2009
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