PARTIES’ CONTENTIONS:
COMPLAINANT
A. THE DOMAIN NAME IS IDENTICAL OR CONFUSINGLY SIMILAR
The disputed domain name, which was registered on 24 December 2019, incorporates the Complainant’s registered trademark GLENCORE in its entirety, combined with a generic term “group“ and separated by the symbol “-“, which is closely related to the Complainant and its business activities. The addition of the gTLD “.com” does not add any distinctiveness to the disputed domain name. The term “Glencore” is distinctively recognizable in the disputed domain name, the disputed domain name should be considered as confusingly similar to the trademark GLENCORE.
B. RESPONDENT HAS NO RIGHTS OR LEGITIMATE INTEREST IN RESPECT OF THE DOMAIN NAME
The Complainant has never granted the Respondent any right to use the GLENCORE trademark within the disputed domain name, nor is the Respondent affiliated to the Complainant in any form.
The disputed domain name and has been actively used to send phishing emails on 7 February 2020 and 10 February 2020 to third parties impersonating the Respondent as a recruiter. The email sender was “Glencore Careers <careers@glencore-group.com>”. The Internet users contacted, reported these “Glencore” emails to the Respondent on 10 Feb 2020, asking whether this was genuine information.
In these emails, the sender pretended to be “Glencore Corporate HR|Recruitment Manager” from “Glencore Plc Australia” by putting such information in its signature and sent internet users documents including a “Job Application Form” asking for personal information.
There is no doubt that the disputed domain name was registered with the sole purpose of abusing it towards the Respondent, towards its customers, partners, employees, its related companies, and any third-party internet users. Therefore, the Respondent cannot have registered the disputed domain name for any bona fide offering of goods or services.
The Complainant has not found that the Respondent is commonly known by the disputed domain name or that it has interest over the disputed domain name or the major part of it. When entering the terms “glencore” and “group” in the Google search engine, the returned results all pointed to the Complainant and its business activities. The Respondent could have easily performed a similar search before registering the disputed domain name and would have quickly learned that the trademarks are owned by the Complainant and that the Complainant has been using its trademarks in many countries around the world including in the US where the Respondent resides. However, the Respondent still chose to register a domain name as such.
In light of the above, evidence show that the Respondent is not using the disputed domain name in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services; the Respondent has not by virtue of the content of the website, nor by its use of the disputed domain name shown that it has been commonly known by the disputed domain name, and neither is it making a legitimate, noncommercial or fair use of the disputed domain name. Therefore, the Respondent shall be considered as having no right nor legitimate interest in respect of the disputed domain name.
C. THE DOMAIN NAME WAS REGISTERED AND IS BEING USED IN BAD FAITH
i. THE DOMAIN NAME WAS REGISTERED IN BAD FAITH
It has to be highlighted that the registration of the Complainant’s trademarks pre-dates the registration of the disputed domain name and the Respondent has never been authorized by the Complainant to use these trademarks nor to register the disputed domain name.
Also, considering the facts that:
• The Complainant has an active presence under the trademarks GLENCORE in the US where the Respondent resides, therefore the Respondent very likely knew about the Complainant and its trademarks GLENCORE;
• The Respondent has chosen to incorporate the registered trademark GLENCORE in the disputed domain name in its entirety with a generic term "group" which is closely related to the Complainant's business activities;
• The Respondent has used the disputed domain name to send phishing emails to internet users, impersonating the Complainant, the disputed domain name shall be deemed as registered in bad faith.
ii. THE DOMAIN NAME IS BEING USED IN BAD FAITH
Firstly, as noted in the previous paragraphs, the Respondent has used the Disputed Domain Name to send phishing emails to Internet users, impersonating the Complainant, which refers to the Respondent's use of the disputed domain name in bad faith.
Secondly, the Respondent is using a privacy shield to conceal its identity, which is an additional element that contributes to the finding of bad faith use.
SUMMARY
1). The trademark GLENCORE is a registered, distinctive mark worldwide, including in the US where the Respondent is located;
2). The Respondent bears no relationship to the trademarks or the Complainant; it is not commonly known by the disputed domain names nor that it has legitimate interest over the disputed domain names or the major part of it;
3). The Respondent has used the disputed domain name to send phishing emails to internet users, impersonating the Complainant;
4). The Respondent is using a privacy shield to conceal its identity.
In light of the above reasons, it should be concluded that the Respondent has no legitimate interest in the disputed domain name, and that the disputed domain name has been registered and used in bad faith.
RESPONDENT
No administratively compliant Response has been filed.
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