In Jazz Basketball Investors, Inc. v. WhoisguardProtected,Whoisguard, Inc. / Big Shen, Joan Bristol, WIPO Case No. D2017-0031
(Desmond J. Ryan, March 8, 2017), the Panel ordered the transfer of
jazzbasketballteamshop.com to Complainant, the owner of the Utah Jazz
professional basketball team. It was a fairly straightforward case where
Respondent had about as much chance of retaining the domain name as the
Washington Generals had of beating the Harlem Globetrotters through history
(random basketball history fact: the Generals only won once against the
Globetrotters, due to an accidental time clock error, after losing 2,495
straight games). For this reason, Respondent didn’t
even show up for the game (it defaulted).
Complainant swooshed a three pointer in this one, satisfying
all three factors necessary to prevail in a UDRP complaint. First, it easily
demonstrated that the disputed domain name was confusingly similar to a
trademark in which Complainant had rights. Complainant owns the federally
registered trademark UTAH JAZZ, and the Panel found that “[t]he disputed domain
name wholly incorporates the word ‘jazz’. It is the first and distinguishing
element of the disputed domain name. The added descriptive words ‘basketball
team shop’ serve to increase the likelihood that consumers would associate the
disputed domain name with the famous basketball team and compound the confusion
thereby created."
As to the second factor, whether Respondent has rights
or legitimate interests in the domain, Complainant merely confirmed that it had
not licensed or authorized Respondent to use the UTAH JAZZ trademark, and that
assertion plus the fact that the domain name featured a webpage purporting to
sell counterfeit UTAH JAZZ merchandise, made the finding of illegitimacy a slam
dunk.
Finally, as to the third factor, bad faith registration and
use of the domain name, the Panel found:
The word string of which the disputed domain name is composed
is clearly designed to suggest, and does suggest, that the online location to
which the disputed domain name directs is the online shop or e-store location
of the Utah Jazz basketball team but there is the uncontradicted assertion by
the Complainant that the Respondent has no connection or association with the
Complainant. There could hardly be more cogent evidence of registration in bad
faith. Added to that are the collateral facts that the registration sits behind
a privacy shield and the contact details of the personally named Respondents
are apparently fictitious.
These findings plus the asserted counterfeited nature of the
goods sold on the Respondent’s website, sealed the win for Complainant.
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