NO ADMINISTRATIVELY COMPLIANT RESPONSE HAS BEEN FILED.
PARTIES' CONTENTIONS:
COMPLAINANT:
The Complainant relies on its rights in the MITTAL trademark, acquired through its above-mentioned trademark registrations and its use of the MITTAL trademark in its steel production business. The Complainant states that it is the successor of Mittal Steel, a business originally set up in 1976 by Sir Aditya Mittal, the president and CFO of the Complainant and CEO of ArcelorMittal Europe. ARCELORMITTAL was created through the merger of ARCELOR and MITTAL STEEL in 2006.
The Complainant contends that the disputed domain name <lakshmimittal.org> (sic) is confusingly similar to its trademark MITTAL. Having considered the context, this Panel treats this statement as a typo and that the Complainant meant <aadityamittal.com> which is the domain name in dispute in these proceedings.
The Complainant submits that the addition of the generic term “Aaditya” is not sufficient to avoid the likelihood of confusion with the Complainant’s trademark as the term “Aaditya” corresponds to the first name of the chairman and chief executive officer of the Complainant. The Complainant contends that therefore, the addition of this word must worsen the confusing similarity between a trademark and a domain name. The Complainant submits that prior UDRP panels have established that the addition of a generic term associated to a trademark does not create a new or different right to the mark or diminish confusing similarity, citing LEGO Juris A/S v. Viktor Tkachev, Lego Town, WIPO Case No. D2016-0239, <lego-town.com> (“The Panel finds that Complainant has trademark rights in the well-known LEGO Mark and that the disputed domain name incorporates Complainant’s trademark in its entirety with the additional elements of a hyphen followed by the word “town” and the use of the gTLD “.com.” None of these additional elements are sufficient to distinguish the disputed domain name from Complainant’s mark.”); and Costco Wholesale Corporation and Costco Wholesale Membership, Inc. v. Kenneth Terrill, WIPO Case No. D2010-2124: “The addition of certain words, as here, can “exacerbate […] the confusing similarity between the [Complainant’s] trademark and the Domain Name and increase […] the risk of confusion between the Domain Name and the […] trademarks.”
Furthermore, the term “Aaditya” corresponds to the first name of the chairman and chief executive officer of the Complainant. Therefore, as prior Panels have held, the Complainant contends that the addition of this word worsen the confusing similarity between a trademark and a domain name.
The Complainant submits that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interest in the domain name. According to the information available on the Whois database, the owner of the disputed domain name <aadityamittal.com> is “K L Home Appliances". Past panels have held that a Respondent was not commonly known by a disputed domain name if the Whois information was not similar to the disputed domain name.
The Complainant asserts that the Respondent is not related in any way with the Complainant; that the Complainant does not carry out any activity for, nor has any business with the Respondent; that neither license nor authorization has been granted to the Respondent to make any use of the Complainant’s trademark MITTAL, or apply for registration of the disputed domain name by the Complainant and that furthermore, the disputed domain name is inactive and therefore it is not in use for a bona fide offering of goods or services or legitimate non-commercial or fair use.
The Complainant submits that the Complainant contends that Respondent has registered and is using the disputed domain name <aadityamittal.com> in bad faith.
The Complainant submits that given the distinctiveness of the Complainant's trademarks and reputation, it is reasonable to infer that the Respondent has registered the domain name with full knowledge of the Complainant's trademarks. Moreover, the Complainant also claims that the Respondent knew of Complainant's rights in the MITTAL trade mark prior to registration of the domain name since he chose to register a domain name which contains the name of the president and CFO of the Complainant and CEO of ArcelorMittal Europe, by Sir Aditya Mittal.
The Complainant submits that website in connection with the disputed domain name <aadityamittal.com> is not active. The Complainant contends the Respondent has registered the disputed domain name in order to create a likelihood of confusion with the Complainant.
RESPONDENT: The Respondent made no submissions.
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