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The Co operators Group Wins Domain Name Dispute Over "Cooperator.ca"
The Co-operators Group Ltd. (the “Co-operators”) was recently successful in having the domain name “cooperator.ca” transferred to it through a complaint under the Canadian Internet Registration Authority Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy”). The complaint was submitted to the British Columbia International Commercial Arbitration Centre (the “BCICAC”).
The panel appointed under the Policy by the BCICAC had no trouble finding in favour of the Co-operators on the three grounds required to successfully prove the complaint: that the domain name was confusingly similar to the Co-operators’ trade mark, the registration of the domain name was made in bad faith and the registrant, Artbravo Inc., had no legitimate interest in the domain name. Key to each of these findings was evidence submitted by the Co-operators that the registrant had used the domain name to provide links to insurance services and that the registrant had a pattern of registering domain names which correspond to the trade marks of third parties.
In an interesting dissent on the appropriate remedy, panelist David Allesbrook felt that cancellation of the registration was more appropriate than transfer of the registration to the Co-operators. Mr. Allesbrook felt that the domain name was a generic term capable of being used innocently by a third party and that there was a public interest in having as large a pool as possible of available trade marks and domain names.
For a copy of the decision, visit:
http://www.cira.ca/en/dpr-decisions/00055-cooperator.ca.pdf