The Complainant is Space Falcon LLC. Space Falcon is an online game in the “Intergalactic Metaverse” that allows players to explore space while battling enemies with premium Sci-Fi NFTs from Cosmos and more. NFTs for in-game items mean players literally own and control what they buy, earn, or craft. Additionally, the Space Falcon game has a cryptocurrency token ($FCON) for buying in-game items. The Complainant’s mission is to create an ecosystem that transforms the gaming industry by leveraging the power of blockchain technology.<\/p>\n
The Complainant has an active online presence, including owning the domain name <spacefalcon.io> which has been used and registered since October 14, 2021.<\/p>\n
The Complainant is also active on social media and has generated a significant level of endorsement. <\/p>\n
The disputed domain name was initially registered on August 21, 2011. The Respondent acquired it on January 23, 2022. <\/p>", "other_legal_proceedings": "
The Panel is not aware of any other legal proceedings which are pending or decided and which relate to the disputed domain name.<\/p>", "no_response_filed": "
COMPLAINANT:<\/p>\n
The Complainant contends that the disputed domain name is identical to its SPACE FALCON unregistered trademark, that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the disputed domain name, and that the disputed domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith, including by impersonating the Complainant’s previous COO (Chief Operations Officer).<\/p>\n
In particular, the Complainant submits and documents that although the disputed domain name was initially registered on August 21, 2011, the Respondent acquired the same from HugeDomains.com only on January 23, 2022, and therefore this should be the date to be considered for the purposes of this proceeding, relying on WIPO Overview 3.0, section 3.9 which states that: \"...the transfer of a domain name registration from a third party to the respondent is not a renewal and the date on which the current registrant acquired the domain name is the date a panel will consider in assessing bad faith. This holds true for single domain name acquisitions as well as for portfolio acquisitions\"<\/em>.<\/p>\n In support of its argument, the Complainant relies inter alia on an e-mail from HugeDomains confirming the sale from HugeDomains.com to the Respondent and indicating that the “Last Updated date” (i.e. January 23, 2022) in the Public WHOIS is the date on which the new registrant acquired the disputed domain name.<\/p>\n The Complainant further submits that the Respondent, after purchasing the disputed domain name from HugeDomains.com, embarked on a social engineering scam. The Complainant brought the matter to the attention of the Domain Registrar NameCheap.com, and this led to the suspension of the disputed domain name. <\/p>\n Lastly, the Complainant submits that, before said date, it had already acquired common law rights in the distinctive SPACE FALCON trademark through open, continuous and extensive use thereof since its launch on October 14, 2021. <\/p>\n In support of the above, the Complainant submits that:<\/p>\n 1) The Complainant has acquired common law rights\/secondary meaning in the distinctive SPACE FALCON trademark through open, continuous and extensive use thereof since its launch on October 14, 2021. <\/p>\n 2) The use of the SPACE FALCON trademark is evident from the many tweets it has published starting October 14, 2021 and up until November 2021, in which the Complainant announced partnerships with AVStarCapital (November 18, 2021), PandaCapital (November 16, 2021) and FishDAO (November 13, 2021). The Complainant also tweeted upon gaining its first 10k followers on November 9, 2021. In the Complaint, the Complainant also attached specific tweets for January 2022 and more tweets to the present day. This includes partnerships with Okex Ventures (January 13, 2022), Solace (January 20, 2022) and Neon Labs (November 24, 2022). More particularly, announcements in the third week of January 2022 included the listing of the $FCOIN cryptocurrency\/token; the announcement that $4 million of investment had been raised; the welcoming of new advisors, new partnerships, and so on. A further annex to the Complaint contains the trading volume of the Space Falcon $FCON cryptocurrency. <\/p>\n The Complainant also claims that the common law rights it had acquired before January 23, 2022 are shown by the popularity achieved, as evidenced by the number of users (3,600), minutes played (40,391), followers of its Twitter handle (167k followers), and followers on other social networks and media (e.g. Telegram, Instagram, Discord, YouTube, LinkedIn etc.) as of January 21, 2022.<\/p>\n 3) The Complainant raised $4 million of investment on January 18, 2022. This was announced on the Complainant’s blog at spacefalcon.io, on medium.com, and was published online on various news portals.<\/p>\n 4) The Complainant announced the launch of the $FCON cryptocurrency in January 22, 2022. <\/p>\n 5) The Complainant submits that the investment raised in itself shows the success of the Complainant’s Metaverse SPACE FALCON game and the huge popularity it gained in such a short span of time. The project is backed by numerous partnerships (12) and many more investments (14) as indicated on the homepage of the official website <spacefalcon.io>.<\/p>\n 6) The Complainant registered the domain name spacefalcon.io on October 14, 2021 and has used it since then.<\/p>\n 7) Targeting of the Trademark<\/p>\n The registrant acquired the disputed domain name on January 23, 2022, with the specific purpose of targeting the Complainant and its trademark, as evidenced by the attempted scam detailed in the documents attached to the complaint. <\/p>\n 8) The Complainant asserts and documents the Respondent’s attempt to impersonate the COO (at the time of the scam) of the Complainant for the purposes of fraud.<\/p>\n Hence the Complainant, quoting WIPO Overview, Section 1.3, which states that “the fact that a respondent is shown to have been targeting the complainant’s mark may support the complainant’s assertion that its mark has achieved significance as a source identifier<\/em>”, and several UDRP decisions, affirms that its SPACE FALCON unregistered trademark has achieved significance as a source identifier, and thus has acquired common law rights. NO ADMINISTRATIVELY COMPLIANT RESPONSE HAS BEEN FILED.<\/p>\n <\/p>",
"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).<\/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 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.<\/p>",
"decision": "Accepted",
"panelists": [
"Fabrizio Bedarida"
],
"date_of_panel_decision": "2023-07-12 00:00:00",
"informal_english_translation": " The Complainant is the owner of:<\/p>\n Indian trademark SPACE FALCON (word) application no 5957459, filed on May 29, 2023;<\/p>\n This application is pending.<\/p>\n The Complainant relies on common law\/unregistered trademark rights. <\/p>",
"decision_domains": {
"spacefalcon.com": "TRANSFERRED"
},
"panelist": null,
"panellists_text": null
}
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
RESPONDENT: <\/p>\n