FACTS ASSERTED BY THE COMPLAINANTS AND NOT CONTESTED BY THE RESPONDENT:
The Complainants are Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. and Banca IMI S.p.A.
Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. is the leading Italian banking group and also one of the protagonists in the European financial arena. Intesa Sanpaolo 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., two of the top Italian banking groups. Intesa Sanpaolo is among the top banking groups in the euro zone, with a market capitalisation exceeding 50,1 billion euro, and the undisputed leader in Italy, in all business areas (retail, corporate and wealth management). Thanks to a network of approximately 4,600 branches capillary and well distributed throughout the Country, with market shares of more than 13% in most Italian regions, the Group offers its services to approximately 12.3 million customers. Intesa Sanpaolo has a strong presence in Central-Eastern Europe with a network of approximately 1.100 branches and over 7,7 million customers. Moreover, the international network specialised in supporting corporate customers is present in 27 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.
Banca IMI S.p.A. is 100% controlled by Intesa Sanpaolo and is part of its Corporate and Investment Banking division. Banca IMI was created in October 2007 from the merger of Banca Caboto and the former Banca IMI, two of Italy's most important financial institutions in terms of their history, performance, and activities in Investment Banking and Capital Markets. The unification of these two institutions took place at the time of the Banca Intesa-Sanpaolo IMI merger, which led to the creation of Intesa Sanpaolo itself.
Banca IMI is active in investment banking, structured finance and capital markets, operating in the main national and international markets, through offices in Milan, a Rome and a London branch, and a subsidiary, Banca IMI Securities Corporation, based in New York. In structured finance, Banca IMI enjoys a position of historical leadership in the Italian market and a solid international track record. In developing this business, the Bank also leverages the extensive portfolio of relationships that Intesa Sanpaolo Group has built up in Italy and around the world. Banca IMI is a major dealer in the equity and bond markets; it provides publicly traded companies with an efficient Corporate Broking service, and supplies clients with specialized advisory services in financial risk management
The Complainants are the owners, among the others, of the following domain names:
BANCAIMI.COM, BANCAIMI.IT, BANCAIMI.ORG, BANCAIMI.BIZ, IMIBANCA.COM, IMIBANCA.NET, IMIBANCA.ORG, IMIBANCA.BIZ, IMIBANCA.INFO, IMIBANCA.IT, IMIBANCA.EU, IMIBANK.COM, IMIBANK.NET, IMIBANK.ORG, IMIBANK.BIZ, IMIBANK.INFO, IMIBANK.EU, IMIBANK.IT.
On April 12, 2016, the Respondent registered the domain name <BANCAIMY.COM>.
The Complainants contend that there are present circumstances indicating that, by using the Disputed domain name, the Respondent has intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to its website, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the Complainants’ trademark. The domain name is now connected to a web site containing pornographic images, videos and links.
The website contains several sponsored links offering pornographic items. Therefore, there is a clear commercial gain for the owner of the domain name, who is trading on the reputation of Intesa Sanpaolo and Banca IMI. In fact, Internet users, while looking for Complainants’ website in order to get some information on their banking services, may chance upon the Respondent’s website. Moreover, the Respondent’s conduct is evidently causing dilution and tarnishment to the Complainants’ mark and image.
According to the Complainants, there is no coincidence that this speculation has involved big financial institutions such as the Complainants. In fact, the diversion practice in banking realm is very frequent due to the high number of on line banking users.
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