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Dispute 101776

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On-line ADR Center of the Czech Arbitration Court (CAC)

Panel Decision

§ 15 of the UDRP Rules (Rules), § 9 of the CAC’s Supplemental Rules (Supplemental Rules)

Case No. 101776
Time of Filing 2017-12-28 09:43:25
Disputed domain name TANJUG.INFO
Case Administrator
Name Aneta Jelenová
Complainant
Organization Public Enterprise News Agency Tanjug
Authorized Representative
Name Nenad Babić
Respondent
Name Saša Mirković
Other Legal Proceedings
The Complainant provided a decision of the Serbian Committee for the Resolution of disputes relating to the registration of national Internet Domain Names dated May 12, 2017, concerning the domain name <tanjuginfo.rs> which was registered by BEOTON R DOO BOR. The three member Arbitration Panel of the aforementioned Committee adopted the request of the Complainant and ordered the Serbian National Internet Domain Registry Foundation to delete the registration of <tanjuginfo.rs>. The decision had been implemented through domain name transfer from BEOTON R DOO BOR to the Complainant.

Although the registrants of the domain names <tanjug.info> and <tanjuginfo.rs> are not the same, the Complainant states, that the Respondent Saša Mirković and BEOTON R DOO BOR are connected, because Saša Mirković has been publically quoted on several occasions confirming that he himself stands behind the project "Tanjug Info".
Identification of rights
The Complainant is the owner of a trademark consisting in whole or in part of the word "TANJUG":

Individual Serbian Trademark (no. 69281), consisting of verbal mark Tanjug.Tačno written in Latin letters, as well as a graphic element consisting of white background with written blue letters and red dot, registered under classes 16, 24, 25, 35, 38, 41, 42 with a priority date of September 9, 2014.
Factual Background
FACTS ASSERTED BY THE COMPLAINANT AND NOT CONTESTED BY THE RESPONDENT:

The Complainant is the owner of the Tanjug.Tačno mark and the registrant of the registered national domain name <tanjug.rs> as well as - after the decision of the Serbian Committee for the Resolution of disputes relating to the registration of national Internet Domain Names - the registrant of the registered national Internet Domain <tanjuginfo.rs>. The Complainant is a national news (press) agency of the Republic of Serbia, founded on November 5, 1943, under the name of Telegraphic Agency of New Yugoslavia (Serbian: Telegrafska Agnecija Nove Jugoslavieje - TANJUG).

The Complainant states that the mark TANJUG is a well-known mark in the news agency business with a tradition of more than 70 years, especially in the region of former Yugoslavia. The Complainant further states that the mark is highly distinctive and related exclusively to news reporting.

The disputed domain name <tanjug.info> was registered by the Respondent identified as "Saša Mirković" on May 31, 2017, and so far only a few days after the decision of the Serbian Committee for the Resolution of disputes relating to the registration of national Internet Domain Names dated May 12, 2017, concerning the national domain name <tanjuginfo.rs>.

The Complainant states, that the disputed domain name <tanjug.info> is used as a platform for the publication of news and other media content by the Respondent and has also a commercial component, as it publishes commercial ads on the website.

The Complainant assumes that the disputed domain name <tanjug.info> is confusingly similar to its registered trademark "Tanjug.Tačno", while the disputed domain name contains the first part "TANJUG" of the trademark "Tanjug.Tačno". As the Complainant states further, the combination of the letters T-A-N-J-U-G has no other meaning in any language except as an acronym of the Complainant's name.

Further the Complainant states that the Respondent has registered the disputed domain name without right or legitimate interests, because he is not the trademark holder which would give him the right to use the disputed domain name <tanjug.info>.

The Complainant assumes that the Respondent has registered the disputed domain name in bad faith because the name "Tanjug" is extremely well known in news agency businesses and generally well known in the region of former Yugoslavia. Moreover, a website is being operated under the disputed domain name where news and information highly similar to the content provided by the Complainant under its domain name "tanjug.rs" are being published.

Furthermore, the Respondent has, to the statement of the Complainant, tried to register the trademark "tanjug info" which has been denied by Serbian Intellectual Property Office because it was identical or similar to an already registered mark.
 
NO ADMINISTRATIVELY COMPLIANT RESPONSE HAS BEEN FILED.
Rights
The Complainant has, to the satisfaction of the Panel, shown the disputed domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the Complainant has rights (within the meaning of paragraph 4(a)(i)of the Policy).
No rights or legitimate interests
The Complainant has, to the satisfaction of the Panel, shown the Respondent to have no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the disputed domain name (within the meaning of paragraph 4(a)(ii)of the Policy).
Bad faith
The Complainant has, to the satisfaction of the Panel, shown the disputed domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith (within the meaning of paragraph 4(a)(iii)of the Policy).
Procedural Factors
The Panel is satisfied that all procedural requirements under UDRP were met and there is no other reason why it would be inappropriate to provide a decision.
Principal Reasons for the Decision
According to paragraph 4(a) of the Policy the Complainant must prove for the requested transfer of the disputed domain name that

(i) the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the Complainant has rights; and
(ii) the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect to the domain name; and
(iii) the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.

There is no reasonable doubt that the Complaint complies with all these requirements:

(i)
The Complainant has established that it has rights in the trademark corresponding and/or containing the distinctive part "TANJUG" since 2014. The Complainant's trademark was registered prior to the registration of the disputed domain name (May 31, 2017) and is widely well-known.

The Panel finds that the disputed domain name is confusingly similar to the Complainant's trademark "Tanjug.Tačno" as it includes the first part "TANJUG" of the trademark merely adding the TLD ".info". As previous panels have ruled, adding, deleting or substituting letters or numbers of the Complainant's registered mark does not preclude a finding of confusing similarity. Therefore, deleting the part ".Tačno" of the Complainant's mark is insufficient to negate the confusingly similarity between the disputed domain name and the Complainant's mark (see CREDIT AGRICOLE SA v. Walter Mauche, CAC case No. 101666). This also applies because - according to the information provided by the Complainant - the Complainant is well-known under the acronym "TANJUG" without the addition of "Tačno".

(ii)
Furthermore, the Complainant provided prima facie evidence that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name . As asserted by the Complainant (and unchallenged by the Respondent), the Respondent is not commonly known by the disputed domain name. Neither is the Respondent in any way related to the Complainant. The Respondent failed to provide any information and evidence that it has relevant rights or legitimate interests in respect of the disputed domain name (within the meaning of paragraph 4(a)(ii) of the Policy).

The Panel finds that the Respondent has made no use of, or demonstrable preparations to use, the disputed domain name in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services, is not making a legitimate non-commercial or fair use of the disputed domain name. In fact, the disputed domain name displays highly similar content to the Complainant's website operated under the domain name <tanjug.rs>. Competing use is not considered a bona fide offering of goods or services, nor a legitimate non-commercial or fair use (see CREDIT AGRICOLE S.A. v. Joseph Hafley, CAC case no. 101604). The website operated under the disputed domain name also has a commercial component as it publishes commercial ads and therefore the disputed domain name is not used in a non-commercial way.

In lack of any Response from the Respondent, or any other information indicating the contrary, the Panel concludes that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the disputed domain name.


(iii)
For a Complaint to succeed, a panel must be satisfied that a domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith (Policy, paragraph 4(a)(iii)).

The Panel finds it hard to believe that the Respondent would have chosen and registered the disputed domain name in good faith, without having been aware of the Complainant's TANJUG trademark which - to the conviction of the Panel - is an acronym of its name and therefore not being used in any other language. As it ensues from the evidence provided by the Complainant a website is being operated under the disputed domain name where news and information highly similar to the content provided by the Complainant under its domain name <tanjug.rs> are being published. Therefore, the Respondent has been taking unfair advantage of Complainant's trademarks reputation by misleading the Internet users to believe that the website operated under the disputed domain name is associated with the Complainant. As asserted by the Complainant (and unchallenged by the Respondent) the Respondent also tried to register an own trademark "Tanjug Info" which has been denied by the Serbian Intellectual Property Office because it was identical or similar to an already registered mark (Tanjug.Tačno).

Therefore the Panel finds, that the disputed domain name <tanjug.info> has been registered and is being used in bad faith under paragraph 4(a)(iii) of the Policy.
Decision
For all the reasons stated above, the Complaint is Accepted
and the disputed domain name(s) are to be
TANJUG.INFO Transferred to Complainant
Panellists
Name Prof. Dr. Lambert Grosskopf, LL.M.Eur.
Date of Panel Decision 2018-02-13
Publication of the Decision
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