The Complainant’s business is based in France and includes the operation of an online platform at www.smartferry.com, which serves as a booking engine for ferry transportation. The Complainant acquired the disputed domain name on 25 February 2019. On 1 January 2019, the Complainant entered into a service agreement with Clientigent s.r.o., a company based in Prague, for the provision of IT services to the Complainant. Also on 1 January 2019, Clientigent s.r.o. in turn entered into an agreement with FastVAT s.r.o., another company also based in Prague, by which Clientigent effectively subcontracted to FastVAT s.r.o. the services it owed to the Complainant under the service agreement. On 1 May 2019, the Complainant further entered into a consulting agreement with Ivo Brabec, a sole trader based in Prague, for the supply of business support services. The services to be provided to the Complainant under these various agreements included management of the Complainant’s website and domain, but none of the agreements gave any of Clientigent, FastVAT, or Mr Brabec any right to own or transfer the disputed domain name. A dispute subsequently arose between the Complainant on the one hand, and Clientigent and Mr Brabec on the other, about invoicing under the service agreement between the Complainant and Clientigent, and the consulting agreement between the Complainant and Mr Brabec. On 1 June 2021, Mr Brabec threatened the Complainant with the suspension of services under the service agreement and, on 2 June 2021, he notified the Complainant of the suspension of all administrative access. <\/p>\n
On 14 July 2021, the domain name was transferred to a different registrar, Namecheap, Inc, and the Respondent as registrant. The Complainant submits that it terminated the service agreement with Clientigent on 2 August 2021 and the consulting agreement with Mr Brabec on 5 August 2021. On 4 and 5 August 2021, changes were made to the DNS servers, and the domain www.smartferry.com was redirected to another IP address, without the knowledge of, or authorisation by, the Complainant, effectively depriving the Complainant of access to and control over the disputed domain name. <\/p>\n
At the time of the amended complaint, and of this decision, the disputed domain name still resolves to the Complainant’s website at www.smartferry.com but the Complainant has no access to or control over the disputed domain name. <\/p>", "other_legal_proceedings": "
The Panel's attention has been drawn by the Complainant to a criminal investigation being conducted by the Prague IV District Police Directorate, Criminal Police and Investigation Service, 3rd Business Crime Department, under case number KRPA-212654\/TC-2021-001493-IK, in relation to certain parties (other than the Complainant or Respondent in the present administrative proceedings) connected with the background to this matter, but the Panel is not aware of any actual legal proceedings which are pending or decided and which relate to the disputed domain name. The Panel therefore sees no potential conflict with other legal proceedings that should prevent it from proceeding to a decision in the present administrative proceedings. <\/p>", "no_response_filed": "
NO ADMINISTRATIVELY COMPLIANT RESPONSE HAS BEEN FILED. <\/p>", "rights": "
The Complainant has, to the satisfaction of the Panel, shown the disputed domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trade mark or service mark in which the Complainant has rights (within the meaning of paragraph 4(a)(i) of the Policy).<\/p>", "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).<\/p>", "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).<\/p>", "procedural_factors": "
The Amended Complaint was nearly exclusively concerned with the contractual disputes between the Complainant and Clientigent, and between the Complainant and Mr Brabec. Neither Clientigent nor Mr Brabec are parties to the present administrative proceedings and the Panel has no jurisdiction to determine any of the contractual disputes between the Complainant and either Clientigent or Mr Brabec. The Panel is solely concerned with resolving the domain name dispute between the Complainant and Igor Postalka, the Respondent and current holder of the disputed domain name <smartferry.com>, in accordance with the rules and requirements of the UDRP Policy and the UDRP Rules. <\/p>\n
On 9 January 2023, the Panel issued procedural directions, inter alia inviting the Complainant to make further submissions, supported by sufficient explanations and evidence, to comply with the requirements of the UDRP Rules, and to provide full details of the Complainant’s trade mark rights relied upon, to demonstrate why the Respondent should be considered as having no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the disputed domain names, and why the disputed domain name should be considered as having been registered and being used in bad faith. The Complainant filed further submissions and evidence on 16 January 2023. Against this background, the Panel is satisfied that all procedural requirements under the UDRP were met and there is no other reason why it would be inappropriate to provide a decision. <\/p>", "decision": "Accepted", "panelists": [ "Gregor Kleinknecht LLM MCIArb" ], "date_of_panel_decision": "2023-01-27 00:00:00", "informal_english_translation": "
The Complainant owns several combined word and device trade mark registrations consisting of or incorporating the name SMARTFERRY, including the French national trade mark registration No. 4540679, first registered on 5 April 2019 in international classes 35 and 39; and the international trade mark registration No. 1549309, first registered on 18 June 2020 in international classes 35 and 39. These trade mark registrations predate the transfer of the disputed domain name to the Respondent.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the Complainant acquired the disputed domain name <smartferry.com> on 25 February 2019. The disputed domain name remains connected to the Complainant's official website. <\/p>", "decision_domains": { "smartferry.com": "TRANSFERRED" }, "panelist": null, "panellists_text": null }