Home > Volume III > Issue 17: October 6, 2005 > Bell Canada Wins Fight over Domain Name
Bell Canada Wins Fight over Domain Name
On August 30, 2005, a Panellist under the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (“CIRA”) Dispute Resolution Policy ordered that the domain name be transferred from its registrant to Bell Canada Inc. (“Bell”).
In June 2005, Bell wrote to the registrant of alleging infringement of Bell’s family of trade-marks and demanding that the domain be transferred to Bell. The domain name resolved to www.rogers.com, a website belonging to a direct competitor of Bell (there was no evidence, however, that the Registrant of the domain name was associated with Rogers Communications Inc.). In response to Bell’s demand, the Registrant offered to sell or lease the domain name to Bell. Sometime later, the domain name resolved to a pornographic website. Bell then, commenced proceedings under the CIRA Dispute Resolution Policy.
To obtain a transfer order under the CIRA Dispute Resolution Policy, a complainant must establish on a balance of probabilities that a domain name is “confusingly similar” to a complainant’s trade-mark, that the domain name was registered in bad faith and that the registrant has no legitimate interest in the domain name. On the last requirement, the registrant bears an evidentiary burden.
In this case, Bell established the first element on the basis that an Internet user seeking who accidentally added an extra ”l” would be led to www.rogers.com. Bell also established bad faith based on clear evidence that the Registrant had registered the domain name in order to sell or lease it to Bell for a profit. Since the Registrant did not participate in the proceedings, there was no evidence that it had a legitimate interest in the domain name.
For a copy of the decision, visit:
http://www.cira.ca/en/dpr-decisions/00038-belll.ca.pdf
For a copy of the Policy, visit:
http://www.bcicac.com/bcicac_dap_cira_policy.php
