The Complainant is a British company founded in 2000, specialized in the business of designing, developing, publishing and operating online video games and other electronic-based entertainment. <\/p>\n
The Complainant is recognized at international level for its Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (“MMORPG”) RuneScape. The Complainant also offers a separate and older version of the MMORPG, Old School RuneScape, which has been recognized by the Guinness World Records for being the largest free-to-play MMORPG with over 300 million accounts.<\/p>\n
The Complainant owns the domain name <runescape.com> has resolved to an active website relating to online video games since at least as early as August 17, 2000. In addition, the Complainant owns various further domain names which incorporate the RUNE trademark and which resolve to active websites, as e.g.<\/em>: <runescape.net> and <runeservice.com>.<\/p>\n The Complainant is also active on social media and has generated a significant level of endorsement, being:<\/p>\n Instagram - https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/runescape\/ - 174,000 followers<\/p>\n Facebook - https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/runescape - 987,000 followers<\/p>\n YouTube - https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@runescape\/featured - 253,000 subscribers<\/p>\n Twitter - https:\/\/twitter.com\/RuneScape - 323,000 followers<\/p>\n Discord - https:\/\/discord.com\/invite\/rs - 83,163 members<\/p>\n The Complainant has also received public recognition for its RuneScape MMORPGs. Old School RuneScape was awarded 2019 EE Mobile Game of the Year at the British Academy Games Awards, while maintaining a Metacritic score of 87, a 4.8 rating (out of 5) on the iOS App Store, and 14,252 “Very Positive” user ratings on Steam.<\/p>\n The Complainant also uses a wide range of other RUNE-formative marks within and in association with RuneScape, being (but not limited to): Goldrune \/ RuneGold; Rune equipment; Rune essence; Rune Memories; Rune Mysteries; Rune running; Runebeard; RuneCoins; Runecrafting; RuneFest; RuneLabs; RuneMetrics; RuneScore; Runespan; RuneTek; Runite; ScapeRune; Rune Mechanics; RuneDate; RunePass; Runeversi; Runelink; and Runesquares.<\/p>\n The Complainant’s RuneScape games have also provided substantial quantity of online user-generated content relating to the games, including blogs, online articles, forums, videos, message boards, as well as a dedicated wiki.<\/p>\n The seven (7) disputed domain names were registered and resolve as follow:<\/p>\n <rune.game<\/strong>> registered on April 23, 2021<\/strong>, which resolves to an active video game website.<\/p>\n <rune.farm<\/strong>> registered on March 4, 2021<\/strong>, which it is redirected to <rune.game<\/strong>> and resolves to an active online video game website.<\/p>\n <runesanctuary.com<\/strong>> registered on July 25, 2021<\/strong>, which resolves to an active online video game website.<\/p>\n <runeraid.com<\/strong>> registered on August 18, 2021<\/strong>, which resolves to an active online video game website.<\/p>\n <runeinfinite.com<\/strong>> registered on June 18, 2021<\/strong>, which resolves to an active online video game website.<\/p>\n <runeevolution.com<\/strong>> registered on July 25, 2021<\/strong>, which resolves to an active online video game website.<\/p>\n <runeguardians.com<\/strong>> registered on July 27, 2021<\/strong>, which resolves to an inactive website with no content at all.<\/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": " Complainant´s contentions:<\/p>\n “We get this one a lot. All I’ve borrowed are images and rune names. Images can be easily changed, and rune names are not copyright. Everything else is kept generic for rebranding if necessary. When we hit top 100 there will be a rebrand remove anything associated with other RPGs.”<\/em><\/p>\n Response<\/strong><\/p>\n The Respondent did not reply to any of the Complainant's contentions.<\/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 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>\n Consolidation<\/strong><\/p>\n Paragraph 3(c) of the UDRP Rules states that:<\/p>\n “The Complaint may relate to more than one domain name, provided that the domain names are registered by the same domain-name holder.”<\/p>\n In addition, as the Complainant refers on its Complaint, the WIPO Overview 3.0, Section 4.11.2, addresses the question of whether a single consolidated complaint may be brought against multiple Respondents. Specifically, “where (i) the domain names or corresponding websites are subject to common control, and (ii) the consolidation would be fair and equitable to all parties.” <\/p>\n On this case, the Registrar Verification provided by the CAC of November 11, 2023, has indicated that the seven (7) disputed domain names have been registered by the same Registrant, identified as Adam McDonald. Furthermore, the evidence provided by the Complainant, indicates that (i) the seven (7) disputed domain names and its corresponding websites are subject to common control. Therefore, this Panel for procedural efficiency reasons grants the Consolidation.<\/p>\n Language of Proceedings <\/strong><\/p>\n According to Paragraph 11(a) of the UDRP Rules, which states: “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.” This Panel notes that the Complainant requested English as the Language of the Proceedings, and that on November 11, 2023, the concerned Registrar confirmed English as the Language of the Registration Agreement. In addition, given that the Respondent’s seems to be located in California, United States, plus that the active websites are available on English, including tutorial videos, this Panel, considers that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that the Respondent is perfectly able to communicate on English. Therefore, English is the corresponding Language of this Proceeding and of its Decision.<\/p>",
"decision": "Accepted",
"panelists": [
"María Alejandra López García"
],
"date_of_panel_decision": "2023-12-07 00:00:00",
"informal_english_translation": " The Complainant owns, among multiple Trademarks across other jurisdictions, the following ones:<\/p>\n RUNE<\/span>:<\/p>\n - RUNE (word) - United Kingdom IPO UK00911161239, in ICs 16, 25, 36, 41, registered on October 9, 2013 and in force until September 4, 2032;<\/p>\n - RUNE (word) - European Union EUIPO 011161239, in ICs 16, 25, 36, 41, filed on September 4, 2012 registered on October 9, 2013 and in force until September 4, 2032;<\/p>\n - RUNE (word) - European Union EUIPO 018622946, in ICs 9, 16, 25, 28, 36, 41, filed on December 16, 2012, registered on May 20, 2022 and in force until December 16, 2031.<\/p>\n RUNESCAPE<\/span>:<\/p>\n - RUNE SCAPE AND DESIGN - United Kingdom IPO UK00911161239, in ICs 9,16, 25, 28, 41, registered on May 20, 2009 and in force until September 10, 2028;<\/p>\n - RUNE SCAPE AND DESIGN - European Union EUIPO 007223662, in ICs 9,16, 25, 28, 41, filed on September 10, 2008, registered on May 20, 2009 and in force until September 10, 2028;<\/p>\n - RUNE SCAPE AND DESIGN – US USPTO Reg. No. 6063394, in ICs 9,16, 25, 28, 41, registered on May 26, 2020 and in force until May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n RUNE-formative marks<\/span>:<\/p>\n -RUNEFEST (word) - Canada CIPO TMA813156, in ICs 35, 41, registered on December 1, 2011 and in force until December 1, 2026;<\/p>\n -RUNEWIZARDS (word) - United Kingdom IPO UK00002532037, in ICs 9,16, 25, 28, 41, registered on February 19, 2010 and in force until November 18, 2029.<\/p>",
"decision_domains": {
"rune.game": "TRANSFERRED",
"rune.farm": "TRANSFERRED",
"runesanctuary.com": "TRANSFERRED",
"runeraid.com": "TRANSFERRED",
"runeinfinite.com": "TRANSFERRED",
"runeevolution.com": "TRANSFERRED",
"runeguardians.com": "TRANSFERRED"
},
"panelist": null,
"panellists_text": null
}\n
<\/li>\n\n