哈啦
2009-12-03, 05:50 PM
Recently, a National Arbitration Forum (NAF) panel refused to order the transfer of the domain name aaa.net
By Ryan Sadler, Legal Team
Recently, a National Arbitration Forum (NAF) panel refused to order the transfer of the domain name aaa.net to the American Automobile Association Inc (AAA). This past July, AAA filed a complaint under the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) to gain control of the domain aaa.net. In order to be successful under the UDRP, the complainant must prove that the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to its trademark; the domain owner has no rights or legitimate interests with respect to the domain name; and the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.
AAA argued that its holds valid trademark rights in the ”AAA” mark (which has been used in commerce in the United States since 1902), and that the domain is identical to its trademark. The complaint further alleged that the domain owner lacked any legitimate interest in aaa.net, and that the domain was registered with bad faith intent to capitalize on AAA’s trademark. Despite finding the first two elements in favor of AAA, the dispute came down to the third, and usually most important prong, bad faith. The panel stated that “bad faith is at its core a question of intent,” and they found the insufficient evidence to prove that the domain owner had acted in bad faith when registering the domain. The panel expressly found that the domain had several other purposes other than its use as the AAA trademark. These reasons included, bond ratings, battery size, shoe widths, and as an acronym for numerous third-party organizations. The panel further cited that the domain, which was parked, was not displaying any advertisements that were related to the goods or services associated with AAA.
In the end, this decision should be viewed as an encouraging victory for domain owners everywhere. However, it should also serve as a reminder for Sedo users who possess domains that may be acronyms for trademarked products or services to be diligent and not park these domains with ads that may reference goods or services associated with that of the trademark holder. In this instance, had the domain owner parked aaa.net with ads that referenced AAA, the panel would have likely ruled differently on the question of bad faith, and subsequently ordered the domain to be transferred.
簡單來說，美國汽車協會(簡稱AAA, aaa.com就是它們的)要求仲裁論壇NAF把aaa.net判給他們，理由無外乎是他們擁有AAA商標多年，aaa.net的註冊者沒有合法權利，而且容易混淆商標什麼的。但最後遭到拒絕，因為最重要的一點就是惡意註冊和使用(bad faith)，仲裁論壇認為並未發現該註冊者有惡意的情形，而且，雖然該域名是放在parking page上，但並未出現任何和抱怨者AAA有關的廣告，因此不構成惡意使用。
因此各位請特別注意，如果你的域名和別人的商標有重疊之處而目前正放在parking或者用google 之類的廣告，請務必排除掉商標持有者的廣告。
以前發生過一個案例，就是商標持有者(故意)在google上發廣告，由於域名相似，所以該廣告一定會出現在相似的域名網頁上，而商標持有者就拿此當證據指控域名所有人惡意和混淆。
google的廣告可以讓你指定排除某些廣告，所以可以自己去設定，但放在sedo或其他域名商的可能就不是你能控制的，他們大概也不會一一幫你檢查排除，所以如果是有高爭議性的域名，要嘛就不要放廣告自己做個網站，要排嘛就自己放google adsense並且排除危險廣告，而不要去停放別人那裡，以免因小失大。:whoknows
By Ryan Sadler, Legal Team
Recently, a National Arbitration Forum (NAF) panel refused to order the transfer of the domain name aaa.net to the American Automobile Association Inc (AAA). This past July, AAA filed a complaint under the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) to gain control of the domain aaa.net. In order to be successful under the UDRP, the complainant must prove that the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to its trademark; the domain owner has no rights or legitimate interests with respect to the domain name; and the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.
AAA argued that its holds valid trademark rights in the ”AAA” mark (which has been used in commerce in the United States since 1902), and that the domain is identical to its trademark. The complaint further alleged that the domain owner lacked any legitimate interest in aaa.net, and that the domain was registered with bad faith intent to capitalize on AAA’s trademark. Despite finding the first two elements in favor of AAA, the dispute came down to the third, and usually most important prong, bad faith. The panel stated that “bad faith is at its core a question of intent,” and they found the insufficient evidence to prove that the domain owner had acted in bad faith when registering the domain. The panel expressly found that the domain had several other purposes other than its use as the AAA trademark. These reasons included, bond ratings, battery size, shoe widths, and as an acronym for numerous third-party organizations. The panel further cited that the domain, which was parked, was not displaying any advertisements that were related to the goods or services associated with AAA.
In the end, this decision should be viewed as an encouraging victory for domain owners everywhere. However, it should also serve as a reminder for Sedo users who possess domains that may be acronyms for trademarked products or services to be diligent and not park these domains with ads that may reference goods or services associated with that of the trademark holder. In this instance, had the domain owner parked aaa.net with ads that referenced AAA, the panel would have likely ruled differently on the question of bad faith, and subsequently ordered the domain to be transferred.
簡單來說，美國汽車協會(簡稱AAA, aaa.com就是它們的)要求仲裁論壇NAF把aaa.net判給他們，理由無外乎是他們擁有AAA商標多年，aaa.net的註冊者沒有合法權利，而且容易混淆商標什麼的。但最後遭到拒絕，因為最重要的一點就是惡意註冊和使用(bad faith)，仲裁論壇認為並未發現該註冊者有惡意的情形，而且，雖然該域名是放在parking page上，但並未出現任何和抱怨者AAA有關的廣告，因此不構成惡意使用。
因此各位請特別注意，如果你的域名和別人的商標有重疊之處而目前正放在parking或者用google 之類的廣告，請務必排除掉商標持有者的廣告。
以前發生過一個案例，就是商標持有者(故意)在google上發廣告，由於域名相似，所以該廣告一定會出現在相似的域名網頁上，而商標持有者就拿此當證據指控域名所有人惡意和混淆。
google的廣告可以讓你指定排除某些廣告，所以可以自己去設定，但放在sedo或其他域名商的可能就不是你能控制的，他們大概也不會一一幫你檢查排除，所以如果是有高爭議性的域名，要嘛就不要放廣告自己做個網站，要排嘛就自己放google adsense並且排除危險廣告，而不要去停放別人那裡，以免因小失大。:whoknows