The Complainant is a Dutch sportswear brand founded in 1916, specialized in the creation of sneakers and other sports apparel.<\/p>\n
The Complainant commercializes its products through its official domain <karhu.com> which it has owned since April 12, 1999. <\/p>\n
From May 2021 to December 2022, the thirteen disputed domain names, the subject of this case, were registered by two respondents, all of them from Asia; some of them have been registered in the name of an individual, some of them have been registered in the name of a reseller of the respective provider of domain name registration services. The disputed domain names were registered by two different registrars: Paknic Limited and Alibaba.com Singapore E-commerce Private Limited. At the time of filing the Complaint all thirteen disputed domain names were active and resolved to the same type of website, namely an online shop (in various languages) that appeared to sell the Complainant’s items. The Complainant seeks to consolidate the cases against the two Respondents. <\/span><\/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 names.<\/p>",
"no_response_filed": " The Complainant contends that the requirements of the Policy have been met and that the disputed domain names should be transferred to it.<\/p>\n No administratively compliant Response has been filed. <\/p>",
"rights": " The Complainant has, to the satisfaction of the Panel, shown the disputed domain names are 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 names (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 names have been registered and are being used in bad faith (within the meaning of paragraph 4(a)(iii) of the Policy).<\/p>",
"procedural_factors": " CONSOLIDATION OF THE COMPLAINT FOR THE DISPUTED DOMAIN NAMES<\/p>\n It is well established that where the particular circumstances of a given case indicate that common control is being exercised over the disputed domain names, consolidation may be granted, provided that it would be fair and equitable to all parties.<\/p>\n In accordance with the evidence of the case, the registrant of:<\/p>\n <karhutokyo.com> (registered on December 5, 2022) is Qiu Xiaofeng, while the registrant of: <\/p>\n <karhu-shoesau.com> (registered on July 8, 2022) <karhulenkkarit.com> (registered on May 11, 2021) is Alibaba.com Singapore E-commerce Private Limited.<\/p>\n The Complainant points out that the registrant of the last seven disputed domain names is, in fact, a reseller of the registrar, therefore the underlying owner of these disputed domain names has not been disclosed.<\/p>\n The Complainant asserts that, on the balance of probabilities, all o<\/span>f the disputed domain names are owned or under the effective control of a single person or entity, or a group of individuals acting in concert.<\/span><\/p>\n The Complaint identifies a number of common factors: - Some of the disputed domain names use identical Privacy Notices, albeit in translated versions; Therefore, the Panel decides to grant the requested consolidation.<\/span><\/p>\n LANGUAGE OF THE PROCEEDINGS 2) All of the domain names include the English-language trademark;<\/span><\/p>\n 3) All of the disputed domain names are in the international \".com\" zone; 6) <\/span>Requiring the Complainant to translate the Complaint into another language would create an undue burden and delay;<\/p>\n 7) The Respondent has not brought forward any arguments that using the English language in this proceeding would not be fair and efficient; The Complainant is the registrant, among others, of the EU trademark registration No. 006954903 \"KARHU\", registered on July 15, 2010, for goods and services in classes 18, 25 and 28.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>",
"decision_domains": {
"karhu-shoesau.com": "TRANSFERRED",
"karhulenkkarit.com": "TRANSFERRED",
"karhusneakersdanmark.com": "TRANSFERRED",
"karhuturkiye.com": "TRANSFERRED",
"karhusalecanada.com": "TRANSFERRED",
"karhukobenhavn.com": "TRANSFERRED",
"karhuukstockists.com": "TRANSFERRED",
"karhutokyo.com": "TRANSFERRED",
"zapallaskarhu.com": "TRANSFERRED",
"karhushoesschweiz.com": "TRANSFERRED",
"karhusneakersdames.com": "TRANSFERRED",
"karhubelgique.com": "TRANSFERRED",
"karhusneakersnorge.com": "TRANSFERRED"
},
"panelist": null,
"panellists_text": null
}
<zapatillaskarhu.com> (registered on September 28, 2022)
<karhushoesschweiz.com> (registered on September 28, 2022)
<karhusneakersdames.com> (registered on September 28, 2022)
<karhubelgique.com> (registered on September 28, 2022)
<karhusneakersnorge.com> (registered on September 28, 2022)<\/p>\n
<karhusalecanada.com> (registered on June 7, 2022)
<karhukobenhavn.com> (registered on July 22, 2022)
<karhuukstockists.com> (registered on July 22, 2022)<\/p>\n
<karhusneakersdanmark.com> (registered on May 14, 2021)
<karhuturkiye.com> (registered on May 17, 2021)<\/p>\n
- All of the disputed domain names are hosted on the same two IP-address zones: 104.21 and 172.67;
- All of the disputed domain names use Cloudflare.com Nameservers;
- All of the disputed domain names use a similar naming pattern, namely the entirety of Complainant’s trademark, accompanied by a geographical term and\/or a generic term;
- All of the disputed domain names use the same ‘privacy protection service’.
- All of the websites related to the disputed domain names use the same ‘favicon’ (favicon.ico image) depicting the Complainant’s registered trademark consisting of the \"KARHU\" figurative trademark;
- All of the domain names resolve to very similar websites that impersonate the Complainant and which serve the same function, namely the sale of alleged \"KARHU\" products;
- All of the disputed domain names contain the Complainant’s visual mark in the header of the page, and substantially the same fake copyright notice at the bottom.
- All of the websites related to the disputed domain names mention the same message: “Free Delivery Over [amount<\/em>]\" in a slider on the header;<\/p>\n
- All of the websites related to the disputed domain names contain the same contact form text and layout in their respective \"Contact Us\" pages; and
- All of the disputed domain names were registered between May 2021 and December 2022; some of them in groups on the same date.
The Panel, in line with decisions of other panels in similar cases (see, for example, CAC case No. 105420)<\/span>, considers that, on the balance of probabilities, all of the disputed domain names are under the control of a single person or entity, or group of individuals acting in concert. <\/span><\/p>\n
Paragraph 11(a) of the Rules provides that \"unless otherwise agreed by the Parties, or specified otherwise in the Registration Agreement, the language of the administrative proceeding shall be the language of the Registration Agreement, subject to the authority of the Panel to determine otherwise, having regard to the circumstances of the administrative proceeding\".
The language of the Registration Agreement for some of the disputed domain names is Chinese, therefore the language of the proceedings as regards these disputed domain names should be Chinese, unless otherwise agreed by the parties. The Complaint, however, was filed in English and the Complainant submitted a request to change the language of the proceedings into English based, inter alia, on the following reasons:
1) The disputed domain names are in Latin characters and not in Chinese characters;<\/span><\/p>\n
4) The Respondent uses English on a number of the disputed domain names, demonstrating that he or she is familiar with the English language;
5) The <\/span>Respondent used the Registrar’s English-language website to register the disputed domain names;<\/span><\/p>\n
Having considered the Complainant's submission regarding the language of the proceedings and the overall circumstances of this case, the Panel accepts English as language of the proceedings.
<\/span>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": [
"Michele Antonini"
],
"date_of_panel_decision": "2023-07-17 00:00:00",
"informal_english_translation": "