{
    "case_number": "CAC-UDRP-102689",
    "time_of_filling": "2019-09-30 09:19:52",
    "domain_names": [
        "sanpaolointesa-groups.com"
    ],
    "case_administrator": "  Iveta Špiclová   (Czech Arbitration Court) (Case admin)",
    "complainant": [
        "Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A."
    ],
    "complainant_representative": "Perani Pozzi Associati",
    "respondent": [
        "Marco  Fabrone"
    ],
    "respondent_representative": null,
    "factual_background": "FACTS ASSERTED BY THE COMPLAINANT AND NOT CONTESTED BY THE RESPONDENT:\r\n\r\nPRELIMINARY REQUEST FOR ENGLISH TO BE THE LANGUAGE OF THIS PROCEEEDING\r\n\r\nAs requested by the CAC, the Complainant filed preliminary request in order to require English to be the language of the administrative proceeding at issue.\r\n\r\n[1.] First of all, the present Complaint was written in English, an international language comprehensible to a wide range of Internet users worldwide. Since the spirit of Paragraph 11 of the Rules seems to be to ensure fairness in the selection of language by giving full considerations to the parties’ level of comfort with each language, English seemed to be the fair language in the present proceeding. \r\n\r\n[2.] It is true that there are no evidences of an agreement between the Complainant and the Respondent to the effect that the proceedings should be in English. However, it is not possible to ignore that the present dispute has been started because the Respondent deliberately registered a domain name which is identical to a well-known Italian registered trademark legitimately owned and used by the Complainant from several years all around the world. Since it is inconceivable that the Respondent was not aware of such circumstance when it registered the disputed domain name, the Complainant believes that a fair solution shall be – at least – to:\r\n\r\n1) accept the Complaint as filed in English; \r\n2) accept a Response in either English or Italian (or the preferable language of the Respondent, if any); \r\n3) appoint a Panel familiar with both languages.\r\n\r\n[3.] So, in accordance with the instructions submitted by the CAC, for the reasons described above, the Complainant requested the Panelist to maintain English the proceeding language or, at least, one of the languages accepted by the Panel.\r\n\r\n\r\nTHE DISPUTED DOMAIN NAME IS IDENTICAL OR CONFUSINGLY SIMILAR TO A TRADEMARK OR SERVICE MARK IN WHICH THE COMPLAINANT HAS RIGHTS\r\n\r\nThe Complainant 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.\r\n\r\nIntesa Sanpaolo is among the top banking groups in the euro zone, with a market capitalisation exceeding 34,9 billion euro, and the undisputed leader in Italy, in all business areas (retail, corporate and wealth management). Thanks to a network of approximately 3,900 branches capillary and well distributed throughout the Country, with market shares of more than 16 % in most Italian regions, the Group offers its services to approximately 11,8 million customers. Intesa Sanpaolo has a strong presence in Central-Eastern Europe with a network of approximately 1.100 branches and over 7,2 million customers. Moreover, the international network specialised in supporting corporate customers is present in 25 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. \r\n\r\nThe Complainant is the owner, among others, of the following registrations for the trademarks “INTESA SANPAOLO” and “GRUPPO INTESA SANPAOLO”:\r\n\r\n-International trademark registration n. 920896 “INTESA SANPAOLO”, granted on March 7, 2007 and duly renewed, in classes 9, 16, 35, 36, 41 and 42;\r\n- EU trademark registration n. 5301999 “INTESA SANPAOLO”, applied on September 8, 2006, granted on June 18, 2007 and duly renewed, in classes 35, 36 and 38;\r\n- EU trademark registration n. 5344544 “GRUPPO INTESA SANPAOLO”, filed on September 28, 2006, granted on July 6, 2007 and duly renewed, in connection with classes 35, 36 and 38;\r\n- Italian trademark registration n. 1042140 “INTESA SANPAOLO”, filed on February 2, 2007, granted on March 7, 2007 and duly renewed, in connection with classes 9, 16, 35, 36, 38, 41 and 42.\r\n\r\nMoreover, the Complainant is also the owner, among the others, of the following domain names bearing the signs “INTESA SANPAOLO” and “INTESA”: INTESASANPAOLO.COM, .ORG, .EU, .INFO, .NET, .BIZ, INTESA-SANPAOLO.COM, .ORG, .EU, .INFO, .NET, .BIZ and INTESA.COM, INTESA.INFO, INTESA.BIZ, INTESA.ORG, INTESA.US, INTESA.EU, INTESA.CN, INTESA.IN, INTESA.CO.UK, INTESA.TEL, INTESA.NAME, INTESA.XXX, INTESA.ME. All of them are now connected to the official website http:\/\/www.intesasanpaolo.com.\r\n\r\nOn July 30, 2019, the Respondent registered the domain name <SANPAOLOINTESA-GROUPS.COM>.\r\n\r\nIt is more than obvious that the disputed domain name is identical, or – at least – confusingly similar, to the Complainant’s trademarks “INTESA SANPAOLO” and “GRUPPO INTESA SANPAOLO”. As a matter of fact, <SANPAOLOINTESA-GROUPS.COM> exactly reproduces the well-known trademark “INTESA SANPAOLO”, with the mere inversion of the terms “INTESA” and “SANPAOLO”, and the addition of the word “groups”.\r\n\r\n\r\nTHE RESPONDENT HAS NO RIGHTS OR LEGITIMATE INTERESTS IN RESPECT OF THE DISPUTED DOMAIN NAME\r\n\r\nThe Respondent has no rights in the disputed domain name, and any use of the trademarks “INTESA SANPAOLO” and “GRUPPO INTESA SANPAOLO” has to be authorized by the Complainant. Nobody has been authorized or licensed by the above-mentioned banking group to use the disputed domain name.\r\n\r\nLastly, we do not find any fair or non-commercial uses of the disputed domain name.\r\n\r\n\r\nTHE DISPUTED DOMAIN NAME WAS REGISTERED AND IS USED IN BAD FAITH\r\n\r\nThe disputed domain name was registered and is used in bad faith. \r\n\r\nThe Complainant’s trademarks “INTESA SANPAOLO” and “GRUPPO INTESA SANPAOLO” are distinctive and well-known all around the world. The fact that the Respondent has registered a domain name that is confusingly similar to them indicates that the Respondent had knowledge of the Complainant’s trademark at the time of registration of the disputed domain name. In addition, if the Respondent had carried even a basic Google search in respect of the wordings “INTESA SANPAOLO” and “GRUPPO INTESA SANPAOLO”, the same would have yielded obvious references to the Complainant. The Complainant submited an extract of a Google search in support of its allegation. This raises a clear inference of knowledge of the Complainant’s trademark on the part of the Respondent. Therefore, it is more than likely that the disputed domain name would not have been registered if it were not for Complainant’s trademark. This is a clear evidence of registration of a domain name in bad faith.\r\n\r\nIn addition, the disputed domain name is not used for any bone fide offerings. More particularly, there are present circumstances indicating that the Respondent has registered or acquired the disputed domain name primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the disputed domain name registration to the Complainant who is the owner of the trademark or service mark or to a competitor of Complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of the Respondent’s documented out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name (par. 4(b)(i) of the Policy).\r\n\r\nThe disputed domain name is not used for any bone fide offerings, even if it is not connected to any website, by now. In fact, countless UDRP decisions confirmed that the passive holding of a domain name with knowledge that the domain name infringes another party’s trademark rights is evidence of bad faith registration and use (see, in this regard, Telstra Corporation Limited v. Nuclear Marshmallows, WIPO Case No. D2000-0003, enclosed as Annex E, and also the panels’ consensus view on this point, as reflected in the “WIPO Overview of WIPO Views on Selected UDRP Questions” at paragraph 3.2.).\r\n\r\nIn particular, the consensus view of WIPO UDRP panelists is that passive holding of a domain name may, in appropriate circumstances, be consistent with a finding of bad faith. However, panels have tended to make such findings in circumstances in which, for example, a complainant’s mark is well-known, and there is no conceivable use that could be made of the domain name that would not amount to an infringement of the complainant’s trade mark rights.\r\n\r\nAs regards to the first aspect, the Complainant has already extensively proved the renowned of its trademarks. For what concern the second circumstance, it must be underlined that it is objectively not possible to understand what kind of use the Respondent could make with a domain name which does exactly correspond to the Complainant’s trademarks and that results so similar to the Complainant’s domain names currently used by the latter to provide online banking services for enterprises.\r\n\r\nIn the light of the above, the present case completely matches to the above requirements and the passive holding of the disputed domain name has to be considered a use in bad faith: «The very act of having acquired [the domain name] raises the probability of Respondent using [it] in a manner that is contrary to Complainant’s legal rights and legitimate interests. [...] To argue that Complainant should have to wait for some future use of the disputed domain names to occur in order to demonstrate Respondent’s bad faith use is to render intellectual property law into an instrument of abuse by the Respondent. The result would be the likelihood of the accumulation and use of disputed domain names for the implicit, if not explicit, purpose of misappropriating or otherwise unlawfully undermining Complainant’s goodwill and business. The fact that this misappropriation may occur in any as yet undetermined manner at an uncertain future date does not negate Respondent’s bad faith. On the contrary, it raises the specter of continuing bad faith abuse by Respondent of Complainant’s Mark, name and related rights and legitimate business interests» (Decision No. D2004-0615, Comerica Inc. v. Horoshiy, Inc., concerning just the case of a bank).\r\n\r\nThe risk of a wrongful use of a domain name is even higher in the present case, since the Complainant has already been targeted by some cases of phishing in the past few years. Such a practice consists of attracting the customers of a bank to a web page which imitates the real page of the bank, with a view to having customers disclose confidential information like a credit card or bank account number, for the purpose of unlawfully charging such bank accounts or withdrawing money out of them. It happened that some clients of the Complainant have received e-mail messages asking, by the means of web pages which were very similar to the Complainant’s ones, the sensitive data of the Clients, like user ID, password etc. Then, some of the Clients have been cheated of their savings. \r\n\r\nAlso in the present case, the Complainant believes that the current owner registered the disputed domain name with the “phishing” purpose, in order to induce and divert the Complainant’s legitimate customers to its website and steal their money and the above could be easily verified given the particular nature of the disputed domain name (typosquatting).\r\n\r\nEven excluding any “phishing” purposes or other illicit use of the domain name in the present case, anyway we could find no other possible legitimate use of <SANPAOLOINTESA-GROUPS.COM>. The sole further aim of the owner of the domain name under consideration might be to resell it to the Complainant, which represents, in any case, an evidence of the registration and use in bad faith, according to par. 4(b)(i) of the Policy («circumstances indicating that you have registered or you have acquired the domain name primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain name registration to the complainant who is the owner of the trademark or service mark or to a competitor of that complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of your documented out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name»).\r\n\r\nLastly, it shall be noted that on August 28, 2019 the Complainant’s attorneys sent to the Respondent a cease and desist letter, asking for the voluntary transfer of the disputed domain name. Despite such communication, the Respondent did not comply with the above request.\r\n\r\nIn the light of the above, the third and final element necessary for finding that the Respondent has engaged in abusive domain name registration and use has been established.  ",
    "other_legal_proceedings": "The Panel is not aware of any other proceedings, pending or decided, which relate to the disputed domain name.",
    "no_response_filed": "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.",
    "decision": "Accepted",
    "panelists": [
        "Stephanie G. Hartung, LL.M."
    ],
    "date_of_panel_decision": "2019-10-31 00:00:00",
    "informal_english_translation": "The Complainant has evidenced to be the owner of the following trademark registrations:\r\n\r\n- International trademark registration n. 920896 “INTESA SANPAOLO”, granted on March 7, 2007 and duly renewed, in classes 9, 16, 35, 36, 41 and 42;\r\n- EU trademark registration n. 5301999 “INTESA SANPAOLO”, applied on September 8, 2006, granted on June 18, 2007 and duly renewed, in classes 35, 36 and 38;\r\n- EU trademark registration n. 5344544 “GRUPPO INTESA SANPAOLO”, filed on September 28, 2006, granted on July 6, 2007 and duly renewed, in classes 35, 36 and 38;\r\n- Italian trademark registration n. 1042140 “INTESA SANPAOLO”, filed on February 2, 2007, granted on March 7, 2007 and duly renewed, in classes 9, 16, 35, 36, 38, 41 and 42.",
    "decision_domains": {
        "SANPAOLOINTESA-GROUPS.COM": "TRANSFERRED"
    },
    "panelist": null,
    "panellists_text": null
}