FACTS ASSERTED BY THE COMPLAINANT AND NOT CONTESTED BY THE RESPONDENT:
1. The Complainant is the company resulting from the merger (effective as of January 1, 2007) between Banca Intesa S.p.A. and Sanpaolo IMI S.p.A.. It is the leading Italian banking group in all business areas (retail, corporate and wealth management) and is among the top banking groups in the Euro zone, with a market capitalization exceeding 36,8 billion Euro. In Italy, it offers its services to approximately 11.1 million customers, thanks to a network of approximately 4,000 branches capillary and well distributed throughout Italy. Moreover, the Complainant has a strong presence in Central-Eastern Europe with a network of approximately 1.200 branches and over 7,8 million customers. In addition, the international network specialized in supporting corporate customers is present in 29 countries, in particular in the Mediterranean area and those areas where Italian companies are most active, such as the United States, Russia, China and India. According to Complainant’s non-contested allegations, at this day consumers generally refer to the Complainant also as “Sanpaolo”.
2. The Complainant contends that its trademarks “SANPAOLO” and “SANPAOLO IMI” are distinctive and well known all around the world. Moreover, it is the owner of various domain names including the wording “SANPAOLO”, in particular <SANPAOLO.COM>, <SANPAOLO.NET>, <SANPAOLO.BIZ>, <SANPAOLO.XXX>, <SANPAOLO.INFO> that are connected to the Complainant’s official website www.intesasanpaolo.com.
3. The Disputed Domain Name <SANPAOLO.XYZ> was created on June 2, 2016 and - according to the Complainant’s non contested allegations – it resolves to a parking page promoting/sponsoring amongst others banking and financial services, also from the Complainant’s competitors.
4. On July 13, 2016, the Complainant’s attorneys sent to the Respondent a cease and desist letter, asking for the voluntary transfer of the Disputed Domain Name to the Complainant. So far, the Respondent did not comply with this request.
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