Computer
Futures Recruitment Consultants Limited
v.
Keith Phillips
and Computerfutures Ltd.
[Indexed as:
Computer Futures Recruitment v. Phillips and Computerfutures]
[Indexed as:
Computerfutures.com]
eResolution
Administrative Panel Decision
Case No. AF-0106
Commenced:
15 February, 2000
Judgment:
29 March, 2000
Presiding Panelist:
Giovanni Ziccardi
Domain name
- Domain name dispute resolution policy - U.S. Service mark - U.S. Trademark
- Identical - Confusingly similar - Bad faith registration - Bad faith
use - Practice - Stay of proceedings - Disclaimer.
Two preliminary
issues were raised.
First,
eResolution Supplemental Rules, Paragraph 18 provides that in the event
of any legal proceedings initiated prior to or during an administrative
proceeding, the Panel shall have the discretion to decide whether or not
to suspend or terminate the administrative proceeding. Since the
instant administrative proceeding is essentially between the U.S. and U.K.
based companies and since the former is not a party to the court proceeding,
a stay was denied and the proceeding commenced.
Second,
there is no provision in the ICANN rules or in the eResolution supplementary
rules for the intervention of third parties in the dispute resolution procedure.
However, even though the domain registrant of record is Mr. Phillips, Computerfutures
U.S.A. was legitimated as a respondent since the US Company is the real
beneficiary of the registration and Mr. Phillips acted as a mere intermediary
in registering the domain on its behalf.
Complainant
is the best known IT recruitment consultant in UK and Europe and has established
substantial goodwill in the name Computer Futures since 1986. Respondent
is a company registered in the USA, and the registrant is the Respondent's
IT consultant and agent. The parties' respective rights to the domain
are notable. The UK company has a registered trade mark and claims
paternity of an existing domain name identical to that mark. On the other
hand, the US Company was incorporated following the registration of a free-found
domain name, as declared by Mr. Phillips.
In order
to make absolutely sure that there can be no misunderstanding, the Respondent
has voluntarily put a red banner on every page of its' website displaying
the following message: "We are ComputerFutures of New York, we have no
connection with any European company. For legal reasons, we do not operate
in Europe ".
Held,
Name Transferred to Complainant.
First, save
for the generic Top Level Domain '.com', the domain name computerfutures.com
is identical to the complainant's registered trademark Computer Futures.
The operator of the site computerfutures.com admits that have received
200 of the Complainant's e-mail. It cannot be presumed that the UK
Complainant would have no interest in obtaining a .com domain registration.
Second,
the registrant has no rights or legitimate interest in respect of the contested
domain name because the registrant Keith Phillips of Stylemode Data Limited
is not carrying on any legitimate business under the name computerfutures.com
or by reference to the site at that address. Computer Futures USA
did not use or prepare to use the Domain Name in connection with a bona
fide offering of goods or services.
Finally,
the registration was in bad faith. An email sent from the upstart
Respondent to the well-known Complainant purportedly offering to buy the
compfutures.co.uk from Complainant disguised an attempt to open negotiations
for the sale of the computerfutures.com domain. It is unlikely that
Respondent did not know of the existence of Complainant Computer Futures
UK since the company is well known in Europe in the Respondent's field.
Thus, the domain computerfutures.com was registered with the intent of
selling it to Complainant for an inflated price.
Policies
referred to
Uniform
Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, adopted August 26, 1999
Registration
Agreements referred to
--
Cases referred
to
--
1. Preliminary
Issues Paragraph 14 ("Powers of the Panel") (a) and (c) of eResolution
Supplemental Rules, describing the powers of the Panel, states that: (a)
The Panel may rule on any question raised by a Party, including the interpretation
of the Regulation, and that (c) The Panel may rule on any objection as
a preliminary issue, or it may decide to continue the arbitration and rule
on such an objection in its final decision. In the case AF-00106 proposed
to this Panel, two preliminary issues have arisen. The first issue concerns
a request for a stay of the proceeding coming from the Complainant 'Computer
Futures Recruitment Consultants Limited of London' ("CF-UK" or "Complainant").
The second issue concerns 'ComputerFutures Limited. of New York' ("CF-USA"
or "Respondent") and its entitlement to be considered a Respondent. This
Panel decides, in the following Paragraphs (1.1. and 1.2.), about these
two preliminary issues.
1.1. Complainant's
request for a stay. Paragraph 18 ("Effects of court proceedings") states
that "(a) in the event of any legal proceedings initiated prior to or during
an administrative proceeding in respect of a domain-name dispute that is
the subject of the complaint, the Panel shall have the discretion to decide
whether to suspend or terminate the administrative proceeding, or to proceed
to a decision". This Panel received, on 23rd of March, 2000, a formal request
of a stay of the proceeding from the Complainant, because of the pendency
of a civil action on foot in the High Court of London. In this fax, the
Berwin Leighton law firm specifically request that "the panel adjourns
this matter until determination of the action currently on foot in the
High Court". John Hall, President of ComputerFutures Ltd, objected to this
request, quoting the most significant ICANN policy rules, in a letter dated
24 March 2000. This Panel noticed, first of all, that the Parties of the
cause on foot in the High Court of London are the Complainant, Mr. Phillips,
and his company Stylemode Data Limited. As stated in Paragraph 1.2. of
this decision, and according to a deep analysis of the whole documentation
of the proceeding started in front of eResolution, this Panel noticed that
the 'real' contention about the domain name 'computerfutures.com' is between
the two companies, 'CF-UK' and 'CF-USA'. Mr. Phillips acted as a mere procurator
of the New York based Company, but the real commercial interests for the
domain name are connected to the U.S. Company. The Complainant indicated
Mr. Phillips as the Respondent, but Phillips, in the opinion of this Panel,
is 'only' the registrant: the real, primary beneficiary of this domain
name - and the one interested in this Issue - is the N.Y. company. So this
Panel, according to Rule 18, and considering that on the High Court of
London is not present, as a party, 'CF-USA', the real beneficiary of the
registration of the domain name, rejects the request for a stay, will examine
the forms and the annexed documents and will proceed to a decision.
1.2. 'CF-USA'
Respondent's Legitimation. According to ICANN Rules for Uniform Domain
Name Dispute Resolution Policy ("Rules"), the Respondent is the "holder
of a domain-name registration against which a complaint is initiated" (Paragraph
1, "Definitions"). The Complainant, 'CF-UK', objected the rights of 'CF-USA'
to intervene in this proceeding: as a matter of fact, in the Complaint
Form 'CF-UK' identified as counterpart only Mr. Keith Phillips of Stylemode
Data Limited, an England-based company. Mr. Keith Phillips is the one who
registered the domain name 'computerfutures.com'. On 7th March, 2000, a
fax coming from Berwing Leighton offices (Complainant's Representative),
directed to the law offices of John P. Bermingham (Respondent's Representative),
affirms that "there is no provision in the ICANN rules or in the eResolution
supplementary rules for the intervention of third parties in the dispute
resolution procedure. There is no basis on which your contribution can
be considered in the course of the decision making process and, as your
client is not the registrant of the domain name, it has no interest in
the dispute". First of all, it is true - and the annexed documentation
confirms it - that the registrant of the domain name is Mr. Keith Phillips.
Nevertheless this Panel, concerning the legitimatio ad causam of 'CF-USA',
noted from the annexed documents that the English professional (Mr. Keith
Phillips) did not act on personal interest basis, but under the directives
and following the specific requests of 'CF-USA'. He was a mere intermediary:
he affirmed that he was planning to transfer, as soon as possible, the
titolarity of the contested domain name to ComputerFutures Ltd. of New
York. According to this Panel, is obvious that Mr. Phillips acted as an
agent/nominee of 'CF-USA': this consideration is based on several assertions
of Mr. Phillips and of CF-USA representatives. In particular: i) in Annex
B to the Respondent's Form ('witness statement of Keith Phillips') the
status of Mr. Phillips is clear. He declares: "I would be delighted to
take on the job of creating and developing a web site for new American
business" ... "my role in helping to select the final name was to check
the availability of web-site domain names" ... "the name computerfutures.com
was available. I reported back to Mr Hall the results of my research" ...
"[he] instructed to me to register the domain name for him and commence
the development of the site accordingly". ii) Mr. Phillips, explicit, declares:
"in registering the domain name ... I was acting on behalf on my American
clients. It was to be their website. My job was securing the domain name
and then getting the website up and running and therefore maintaining the
same" ... "Neither my company nor I have ... commercial interest in the
domain name www.computerfutures.com. That is the domain name of the site
I set up at the request of, on behalf of and for the benefit of my clients,
Computerfutures Ltd of 10 Audrey Avenue, Oyster Bay, New York". iii) Also
from the correspondence between 'CFRC-UK' and 'CF-USA' is clear that the
position of Mr. Phillips is similar to the one of a simple agent/procurator,
also if there is not a written proof about these commercial contacts or
tasks between 'CF-USA' and Mr. Phillips' Company. In the light of this,
this Panel declares that 'CF-USA' has legitimate interest in joining this
proceeding as a Respondent. The US Company is not a third party but is
the real beneficiary of the domain name registration procedure. According
to this, this Panel rejects the objection of 'CF-UK' and will consider,
in the decision, also the documents and forms of 'CF-USA'. 2. Background
2.1. The Parties and contested domain names. Complainant: Computer Futures
Recruitment Consultants Limited; Venture House, 27-29 Glasshouse Street,
London, England. Prime contact Tania Akehurst, Representative Ian Lowe,
Berwin Leighton, Adelaide House, London Bridge, London, England. Respondents:
(1) Keith Phillips, Stylemode Data Limited, Rose Cottage, Stortford Road,
Hatfield Heat, Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, England. (2) ComputerFutures
Ltd, 10 Audrey Ave, Oyster Bay, New York, USA. Prime contact: Kevin Stevens,
Representative John Bermingham, Jericho Turnpike Suite 203, Jericho, New
York, USA. The contested domain name is computerfutures.com
2.2. Procedural
History. The electronic version of the Complaint form was filed on-line
through eResolution's Website on February 2nd, 2000. The hardcopy of the
Complaint Form was received on February 8th, 2000. Confirmation of wire
payment was received on February 14, 2000. Upon receiving all the required
information, eResolution's clerk proceeded to: i) Confirm the identity
of the Registrar for the contested Domain Name; ii) Verify the Registrar's
Whois Database and confirm all the required contact information for Respondent;
iii) Verify if the contested Domain Name resolved to an active Web page;
iv) Verify if the Complaint was administratively compliant. The inquiry
lead the Clerk of eResolution to the following conclusion: the Registrar
is Core Internet Council of Registrars, the Whois database contains all
the required contact information. The contested Domain Name resolves to
an active Web page and the Complaint is administratively compliant. The
Clerk then proceeded to send a copy of the Complaint Form and the required
Cover Sheet in accordance with paragraph 2 (a) of the ICANN's Rules for
Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy. The Clerk fulfilled all
its responsibilities under Paragraph 2(a) in connection with forwarding
the Complaint to the Respondent on February 15th, 2000. That date is the
commencement date of the administrative proceeding. On February 15th, 2000,
the Clerk's office notified the Complainant, the Respondent, the concerned
Registrar, and ICANN of the date of commencement of the administrative
proceeding. The Clerk's office was informed that the Respondent had problems
filing the response online. An extension of delay was therefore granted
until March 10, 2000. On March 9, 2000 the Clerk's office received the
electronic version of the response and the hard copy version on March 10,
2000. On March 9th, 2000, the Respondent submitted, via eResolution Internet
site, his response. The signed version of the response was received on
March 10th, 2000. On March 14th, 2000, the Clerk's Office contacted Mr.
Giovnni Ziccardi, and requested for him to act as panelist in this case.
On March 15th, 2000, Mr. Giovanni Ziccardi, accepted to act as panelist
in this case and filed the necessary Declaration of Independence and Impartiality.
On March 15th, 2000, the Clerk's Office forwarded a user name and a password
to Mr. Ziccardi, allowing him to access the Complaint Form, the Response
Form, and the evidence through eResolution's Automated Docket Management
System. On March 15th, 2000, a hard copy of file was sent to Mr. Giovanni
Ziccardi. On March 15th, 2000, the parties, the Registrar and ICANN were
notified that Mr. Ziccardi had been appointed and that a decision was to
be, save exceptional circumstances, handed down on March 29th, 2000.
2.3. Factual
Background
CF-UK is a
company registered in England and Wales, which operate internationally
as a recruitment consultant in a number of business areas, but most particularly
in IT recruitment, and it has established a very substantial reputation
in the name Computer Futures. CF-UK provide an Internet based recruitment
service from its website computerfutures.co.uk. The Complainant is also
the owner of the Community Trade Mark 'Computer Futures', the registration
number of which is 00621201. The date of registration of this mark is 19
January 1999 (the registration documents and a copy of the trade mark certificate
are at paper annex 1 to the Complainant form). The mark relates to personnel
recruitment services, personnel recruitment services in connection with
personnel for the management, construction and programming of computers,
provision of advice with respect to the recruitment of personnel, provision
of advice with respect to the seeking of employment. The Respondent is
a company registered in the United States of America, and the registrant
is the Respondent's IT consultant and agent. The Respondent's IT consultant
and agent Mr. Phillips registered the domain name 'computerfutures.com'
on the 13th December 1999. The incorporation of the company named 'ComputerFutures
Ltd' was finalised on 11th January 2000 in the State of New York. In order
to make absolutely sure that there can be no misunderstanding, the Respondent
has voluntarily put a red banner on every page of its' website displaying
the following message: "We are ComputerFutures of New York, we have no
connection with any European company. For legal reasons, we do not operate
in Europe ". On Friday 4 February 2000 the Complainant issued out of the
High Courts of Justice, Strand, London, a claim form and application notice
naming the registrant Keith Phillips and Stylemode Data Limited as Defendants
to action number HC2000 0459 in which the Complainant is seeking an injunction
prohibiting the use of the domain name 'computerfutures.com' by the defendants
and its transfer to the Complainants.
3. Contentions
3.1. Complainant's
Contentions
1)
The Complainant, first of all, asserts that, save for the generic Top Level
Domain name '.com' at the end, the domain name 'computerfutures.com' is
identical to the complainant's registered trade mark 'Computer Futures'
and that the domain name 'computerfutures.com' is confusingly similar to
the Complainants' trade mark in that it contains the words 'Computer' 'Futures'.
2) Claimant
further asserts that this situation is resulting in confusion, and affirms
that this is demonstrated by the e-mail at paper annex B to the Complainant
form: it can be seen that this e-mail is from the operators of the 'computerfutures.com'
site and it states that the operators of the site at 'computerfutures.com'
have received 200 of the Complainant's e-mails.
3) The Complainant
affirms that the registrant should be considered as having no rights or
legitimate interest in respect of the contested domain name because:
(a)
the registrant Keith Phillips of Stylemode Data Limited has himself not
been carrying on any legitimate business under the name computerfutures.com
or by reference to the site at that address;
(b) the site
at 'computerfutures.com' is purportedly operated by a company which claims
to be named ComputerFutures Inc of New York and Chicago. No records of
this company can be located in the relevant registers for these areas and
it is not known at the addresses given on the 'computerfutures.com' web
site or on the e-mails from ComputerFutures Inc. The Complainant asserts
that has obtained these facts by commissioning inquiry agents to verify
the status of ComputerFutures Inc and a copy of their report is at paper
annex C to the Complainant's form.
(c) the site
at 'computerfutures.com' has only been operational for three weeks, the
quality of the site is such that little or no information can be obtained
from it and there is no evidence that the registrants or the operators
of the site have established any goodwill or reputation in the name 'computerfutures.com'
by carrying on their activities at the web site or otherwise.
4) According to
the Complainant, the domain name 'computerfutures.com' should be considered
as having been registered in bad faith because:
a)
the site being operated at the address 'computerfutures.com' claims to
be an operative IT recruitment site offering services in the UK to the
site user. The Complainant is the best known and most successful IT recruitment
consultant in UK and Europe and has established substantial goodwill in
the name Computer Futures since 1986.
b) the company
claiming to operate the site, ComputerFutures Inc gives contact addresses
at 10 Audrey Avenue, Oyster Bay, New York, NY 11771 and 700 Nicholas Boulevard
, Elk Grove Village, Chicago, Illinois, 6007 United States. The Complainant
has employed investigators to obtain details of the ComputerFutures Inc
and to attend the addresses given above. ComputerFutures Inc is not registered
in New York or Chicago and no-one at the addresses given has heard of it
c) the registrant
and his company are both resident in the UK (Mr Phillips at Rose Cottage,
Stortford Road, Hatfield Heath, Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire CM22 7DL
and Stylemode Data Limited at Atherton House, 13 Lowe Southend Road, Wickford,
Essex SS1 8AB UK). This coupled with the information in paragraph b) above
indicates an unlawful intent in the identification of ComputerFutures Inc
as the website operator. The Complainant believes that the operator is
in reality Mr Phillips and/or Stylemode Data.
d) the operator
of the site at 'computerfutures.com' has e-mailed the Complainant stating
that it has received e-mail which was intended for the Complainant. A copy
of this e-mail is at paper annex B.
e) in the
e-mail shown at paper annex B the persons operating the 'computerfutures.com'
site attempted to open negotiations to buy the Complainants domain name
'computerfutures.co.uk'. The Complainant maintains that this was a pretext
under which the defendant wished to open negotiations with the Complainant
and in reality the Defendant hoped that the Complainant would buy the Defendant's
domain name
f) the operation
of a site at the 'computerfutures.com' address is disrupting the business
of the Complainant in that jobseekers wishing to contact the Complainant
are being diverted via the Defendant's domain name and this fact is evidenced
by the contents of the e-mails at paper annex B.
g) by using
the domain name for the purposes of and IT recruitment site the defendants
have attempted to and have succeeded in directing internet users to their
site and stand to make commercial gain thereby because: i) if the operators
of the site are capable of offering services those diverted internet users
may contract with them in place of the Complainant; or ii) by directing
business to the site 'computerfutures.com' the registrants hope to sell
the domain name to the Complainant for a fraudently inflated price; or
iii) by inflicting loss on a competitor they stand to gain generally. The
remedy requested is the transfer of the domain.
3.2. Respondent's
Contentions.
1) The Respondent
asserts, first of all, that the Complainant is a company registered in
the United Kingdom, and its' business activities are limited to Europe.The
Respondent is, on the other way, a company registered in the United States
of America, and its' business activities are limited to the United States
of America.
2) Concerning
the position of Mr. Phillips, CF-USA asserts that the registrant is the
Respondent's IT consultant and agent, responsible for the design and maintenance
of the Respondent's website and the technical contact for them.
3) Then CF-USA
affirms that the Complainant's trademark is limited to Europe, and it has
no rights to any names or trademarks in the USA; it currently operates
in Europe using the name 'compfutures' combined with Top Level Domain name
for its' European Countries of operation ('.co.uk', '.de' etc). The Complainant
has registered all the Top Level Domain names for the Countries in which
it operates and so has clearly indicated where they do business; the Respondent
only has the '.com' Top Level domain name registered indicating that it
operates in the USA. So there is now no confusion whatsoever between the
identities of the Respondent and the Complainant, their areas of their
business operation, and their locations.
4) The Respondent
should be considered as being the rightful owners of the contested Domain
Name because: a) They have every right to use a consultant company, Keith
Phillips of Stylemode data Limited, to organise the procurement, design
and maintenance of their website. Their agent is contractually obligated
to them to perform these tasks. The Registrant therefore has a clear legitimate
business interest in the website, because if they are unable to perform
their function, they will be in breach of contract with the Respondent.
b) The Respondent is a company legally incorporated in the State of New
York. A copy of the Certificate of incorporation is enclosed as annex A
to the Respondent's form c) The Respondent's website is fully functional.
It has been under development using test data but at that time was not
being advertised and had not been registered with any search engines on
the Internet. It now contains "live" data and is being used in support
of the services the Respondent offers to its' customers.
5) The domain
name "computerfutures.com" was not registered in bad faith because: a)
The Respondent's site being operated at the domain address "computerfutures.com"
does not offer services in Europe or indeed in any areas where the Complainant
operates. The message on the Respondent's site makes this emphatically
clear. The Complainant may be very successful in Europe, but it does not
operate at all in the USA and so has no goodwill there. b) The addresses
given on the Respondent's website are correct. The Respondent has office
space at its' Chicago address, however at the moment, business activities
have been temporarily suspended there because there is another company
called Computerfutures operating in Illinois and the Respondent is making
sure that there is no conflict of interest before proceeding to trade from
that office. c) As previously explained, the Registrant of the domain name
is the Respondent's contracted website programmer and is also the Respondent's
technical contact. All of their actions, including the registration of
the name and the programming of the website were on the specific instructions
of the Respondent. The Respondent's agent originally bought the domain
name via an online service with a credit card. It was therefore necessary
to put the cardholders address in as the Registrant's address. The Respondent
had asked for the Registrant details to be changed to their own name i.e.
Computerfutures Ltd, 10 Audrey Ave, Oyster Bay, New York 11771 but no urgency
was attached to this request because it was not foreseen that they would
be attacked by another company for the name through the Courts in the UK
or through a domain name dispute authority. That request has since been
suspended pending the deliberations of the panel. The Respondent urges
the panel to assign the Domain name to its rightful owner, ComputerFutures
Ltd of New York.
4. Analysis
4.1. Considering
the documentation, and according to the ICANN Rules, this Panel will analyze
facts and statements of the Parties, and in particular will consider if:
a) the Complainant has proved each of the three requirements stated in
Paragraph 4 of the ICANN Policy and if b) the Respondent has demonstrated
his rights to and legitimate interests in the Domain name computerfutures.com
(Paragraph 3 (c) Policy) The ICANN Policy in Paragraph 4.(a). requires
'CF-UK' to prove, with respect to the domain name at issue, each of the
following:
4.2. Identity
or confusing similarity. Annex A to the complaint form is the Trade Mark
Certificate. The office for harmonization in the internal market (trade
marks and designs) states that the trademark Computer Futures is registered
with the number 000621201. The applicant is Computer Futures Recruitment
Consultants Ltd from London. The date of registration is 19 January 1999.
According to the ICANN Policy, mere identicality of a domain name with
a registered trademark is sufficient to meet the first element. Save for
the generic Top Level Domain '.com', the domain name computerfutures.com
is identical to the complainant's registered trademark Computer Futures
and the domain name is also confusingly similar to the complainants trade
mark. The confusion is also demonstrated by the e-mail at paper annex B.
The operator of the site computerfutures.com admits that have received
200 of the Complainant's e-mail. About the 'dot com' question: Internet
users generally understand www. as a possible prefix and .com or any other
generic top level domain identifier as a suffix. These prefix and suffix
are related more to the structure of the Internet then they are to the
activities, nature or name of an entity maintaining a presence on the Internet
at that particular domain name. Internet users usually disregard these
prefixes and suffixes and pay most attention to the terms in between. In
Europe a lot of companies use the .com TLD, especially if these companies
have international activities or transnational businesses. So it is not
acceptable the presumption that CF-UK is not interested in having a .com
domain: it is a company very well known in Europe, and has an international
activity in the IT recruitment field. The first requirement is satisfied:
the contested domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark
or service mark in which the complainant has rights.
4.3. Rights
or legitimate interests. Complainant has invested considerable time and
effort in establishing an association between the trade mark Computer Futures
and ist services; the Respondent has not evidently invested time and effort
and expense beyond the establishment of a Web Page. The registrant has
no rights or legitimate interest in respect of the contested domain name
because the registrant Keith Phillips of Stylemode Data Limited has himself
not be carrying on any legitimate business, as we know, under the name
computerfutures.com or by reference to the site at that address. Last but
not least, there is a strange relationship between the choice of the domain
name computerfutures.com and the incorporation of the US company. The rights
of the Parties are very different. On one side the UK company has got a
registered trade mark and claims the paternity of an existing domain name
identical to that mark. On the other side the US Company was incorporated
starting from a domain name found free, as declared by Mr. Phillips. The
Complainant has a solid background on the basis of a long business activity
in this field and with the trade mark Computer Futures, the US company
was created starting from the contested domain name. Finally CF-USA did
not use or was preparing to use the Domain Name in connection with a bona
fide offering of goods or services, neither has been commonly known by
the Domain Name. According to this Panel also the second requirement is
satisfied: CF-USA has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the
domain name.
4.4. Bad Faith
registration and use. On the 24th of January 2000 a mail was sent from
mail@computerfutures.com to international@compfutures.co.uk. The sender
presented itself as 'ComputerFutures Inc. of New York'. The request included
in this mail seems to this Panel strange and pretextuous. The US Company,
new, small and without a complete web site, is trying to open a negotiation
with one of the biggest recruitment company in UK to buy the .co.uk domain
name. It is also strange because in several points Mr. Phillips and the
U.S. Company declare that there was no intention in Computer Futures Ltd
of New York to start a business in Europe. According to this Panel, the
name was primarily registered for the purposes of either selling, renting,
or otherwise transferring it to the owner of the trademark or service mark,
or a competitor, for valuable consideration in excess of the documented
out of pocket costs directly related to the Domain Name, as demonstrated
by the attempt made with the e-mail. It is also probable that domain was
registered as an attempt to attract clients of CF-UK. This Panel think
that the bad faith was above all in the agent procurator (Mr. Phillips)
and secondly in the company (CF-USA). Mr. Phillips, a computer technician
in England, asserts that he did not know the existence of CF-UK, and this
is difficult to believe because the company is well known in Europe, the
principal shareholders of ComputerFutures New York are also from England
and business activities of the US Company are in the same field. The bad
faith of the procurator, who found, registered and paid for the domain
with the agree of submitting it to the US Company, reflects also on the
employer. The Company can not make use of a domain name registered in bad
faith; partners of CF-UK trusted and gave a task to a person who operated
in violation of the current rules, and they can not benefy of a similar
behaviour hold by their procurator. According to this Panel, the Domain
Name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.
5. Conclusions
The
evidence, submissions of the parties, ICANN Regulations compel this Panel
to conclude and decide that (a) the domain name registered by Mr. Phillips
for CF-USA is identical to the registered mark of CF-UK. The registered
domain name computerfutures.com is identical to complainant's registered
trademark Computer Futures and is confusingly similar to a mark in which
the complainant has rights. (b) CF-USA has no legitimate interests in respect
of the domain name. The Respondent has not been commonly known by this
domain name, and the Respondent is not making legitimate non-commercial
or fair-use of the domain name. The respondent does not have rights or
legitimate interests in respect to this domain name. (c) the Domain Name
at issue was registered and is being used in bad faith by Mr. Phillips
and, consequently, by CF-USA because the Respondent acquired the domain
name primarily for the purpose of selling or renting it, and then they
have intentionally attempted to attract for commercial gain and at Complainant's
expense and loss, Internet users to Respondent's website and have created
a likelihood of confusion with respect to complainant's mark as to its
source, affiliation or sponsorship of Respondent's website The respondent
has failed to prove any of the three circumstances set out in ICANN Policy
at paragraph 4 (c). 7. Decision Accordingly, the Complainant's request
is granted and, in accordance with Paragraph 3 (c), the Panel orders that
the registration of the Domain Name at issue, computerfutures.com, be transferred
from Mr. Phillips/CF-USA to CF-UK. Thus done and signed in Castelfranco
Emilia (Modena), Italy, on March 29, 2000. (s) Giovanni Ziccardi
Lead Panelist
Domain
Name Transferred.
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