FACTS ASSERTED BY THE COMPLAINANT AND NOT CONTESTED BY THE RESPONDENT
Complainant is the largest steel producing company in the world and is the market leader in steel for use in automotive, construction, household appliances and packaging with operations in more than 60 countries. It holds sizeable captive supplies of raw materials and operates extensive distribution networks. Complainant is the owner of the international trademark n°947686 ARCELORMITTAL registered on August 3rd, 2007.
Complainant also owns a domain names portfolio, including the wording ARCELORMITTAL, such as the domain name <arcelormittal.com> registered since January 27th, 2006.
The Disputed domain name was registered on September 18th, 2018, and currently points to a page without content except for the message: “Forbidden You don't have permission to access / on this server. Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.”
Complainant is of the opinion that the Disputed domain name is confusingly similar to the Complainant’s trademark ARCELORMITTAL, because it is included in its entirety in the Disputed domain name.
The Complainant contends that the addition of the term “JOBS” is not sufficient to escape the finding that the Disputed domain name is confusingly similar to the trademark ARCELORMITTAL. It does not change the overall impression of the designation as being connected to the Complainant’s trademark ARCELORMITTAL. It does not prevent the likelihood of confusion between the Disputed domain name and the Complainant, its trademark and the domain names associated.
Moreover, the Complainant contends that the addition of the generic Top-Level Domain suffix “.COM” does not change the overall impression of the designation as being connected to the Complainant.
So the Disputed domain name is in the view of Complainant confusingly similar to Complainant’s trademark ARCELORMITTAL.
The Complainant asserts that the Respondent is not commonly known by the Disputed domain name. The Complainant contends that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the Disputed domain name and he is not related in any way with the Complainant. The Complainant does not carry out any activity for, nor has any business with the Respondent. Neither licence nor authorization has been granted to the Respondent to make any use of the Complainant’s trademark ARCELORMITTAL, or apply for registration of the Disputed domain name by the Complainant.
Furthermore, the Disputed domain name points to a page without content except for the message: “Forbidden You don't have permission to access / on this server. Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.” Therefore, the Complainant contends that Respondent did not make any use of Disputed domain name since its registration, and it confirms that Respondent has no demonstrable plan to use the Disputed domain name. This demonstrates in the view of Complainant a lack of legitimate interests in respect of the Disputed domain name.
Thus, in accordance with the foregoing, the Complainant contends that the Respondent has no right or legitimate interest in respect of the Disputed domain name.
The Complainant content that Complainant’s trademark ARCELORMITTAL is widely known. Past panels have confirmed the notoriety of the trademark ARCELORMITTAL in several proceedings. Given the distinctiveness of the Complainant's trademarks and reputation, it is in the view of Complainant reasonable to infer that the Respondent has registered the domain name with full knowledge of the Complainant's trademark. Furthermore, the website in connection with the Disputed domain name is not used since its registration. As prior WIPO UDRP panels have held, the incorporation of a famous trademark into a domain name, coupled with an inactive website, may be evidence of bad faith registration and use. Therefore the Complainant contends that the Disputed domain name was registered in bad faith.
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