FACTS ASSERTED BY THE COMPLAINANT AND NOT CONTESTED BY THE RESPONDENT:
The Complainant is a well-established financial services company that is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”) in the UK. The Complainant appears on the FCA’s Register with registration number 17370. The Complainant’s group is one of the world’s leading online contracts for difference and financial spread betting providers with over 30 million trades executed annually. The Complainant has offices in Europe, Asia, Australasia and the Americas and a worldwide client base. The Complainant’s profit after tax for the financial year 2015/2016 was in excess of £40 million.
The Complainant has been, from 20 April 2012, the owner of a European Union trade mark for the word mark CMC MARKETS (the “Trade Mark”). The Complainant uses the disputed domain name <cmcmarkets.com> for its activities and also as part of email addresses used in its business.
The disputed domain name <m-cmcmarkets.com> (the “Domain Name”) was registered on 16 October 2016.
Almost immediately from registration, Domain Name has been used by an individual to send emails to further fraudulent activity. In particular, emails have been sent from the email address d.Ryan@m-cmcmarkets.com, in which the sender has impersonated the Complainant’s Head of Dealing and Front Office and sought to direct one of the Complainant’s staff to process a payment to Hong Kong.
On 20 October 2016 Waterfront Solicitors wrote to the Registrar of the Domain Name, Wild West Domains LLC, requesting that the Domain Name be immediately suspended, deleted or cancelled. A copy of that correspondence was sent by post and by email to Wild West Domains LLC.
Upon sending the above letter by email to the Registrar, an automatic reply was received from the email address legal@godaddy.com. The letter to Wild West Domains LLC was therefore forwarded to GoDaddy Operating Company LLC on that date. However, to date, neither the Registrar nor GoDaddy Operating Company LLC have suspended, deleted or cancelled the Domain Name as requested in the letter of 20 October 2016.
The Registrar of the Domain Name is Wild West Domains LLC whose underlying Registration Agreement, as far as the Complainant is aware, is in English and subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of Arizona, USA.
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