The Complainant is a German intellectual property law firm with offices in Germany and France, and a long-established international practice representing clients in industry, technology, life sciences, and creative sectors, with a particular focus on patent prosecution and litigation, trade trademark and design law, and strategic IP portfolio management. The Complainant has used the trademark GRÜNECKER in connection with its legal and IP services for many years and is the owner of registrations for the trademark in various countries.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The disputed domain names <grunecker-de.lat> and <grunecker-de.sbs> were both registered on June 21, 2026, through the same registrar and both display identical privacy-shielded registrant address data.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The disputed domain name <grunecker-de.lat> was configured with the email address <kong@grunecker-de.lat> from which an individual identifying themself as an employee of the Complainant corresponded with a client of the Complainant regarding what is claimed to be an outstanding invoice that had been issued by the Complainant. In the course of that correspondence, the sender represented that the Complainant's bank account was undergoing an audit and requested that payment instead be sent to substitute bank details.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The disputed domain name <grunecker-de.sbs> does not presently resolve to any active website and the Complainant has not identified any active email use of that domain name.<\/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:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The disputed domain names are confusingly similar to the Complainant's GRÜNECKER trademark because each reproduces the trademark in its entirety, merely substituting the umlaut “ü” with the letter “u”, and appending a hyphen and the non-distinctive geographic term “DE” (signifying Germany) together with a gTLD.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain names because it has never been authorized by the Complainant to use the GRÜNECKER trademark, it is not commonly known by the disputed domain names, and it has used <grunecker-de.lat> to impersonate the Complainant's employee and perpetrate an invoice-payment fraud on the Complainant's client. While the <grunecker-de.sbs> domain name has not yet been actively used, it was registered under identical registrant data and most likely for the same illegitimate purpose.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The disputed domain names were registered and are being used in bad faith, as evidenced by the fraudulent email scheme conducted through the <grunecker-de.lat> domain name and the pattern of registering multiple confusingly similar domain names, including the passively held <grunecker-de.sbs> domain name under identical registrant information.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n THE RESPONDENT:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/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": " 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": [
"Steven Levy"
],
"date_of_panel_decision": "2026-08-14 00:00:00",
"informal_english_translation": " The Complainant is the owner of, inter alia, the following trademark registrations for the word GRÜNECKER:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n EUIPO Reg. No. 011495207 dated13-06-2013 in Classes 16, 41, 45;<\/p>\n United Kingdom Reg. No. UK00911495207 dated 17-01-2013 in Classes 16, 41, 45;<\/p>\n China Reg. No. 12914132 dated 21-12-2014 in Class 16;<\/p>\n China Reg. No. 12914130 dated 21-12-2014 in Class 45; and<\/p>\n China Reg. No. 12914131 dated 14-12-2014 in Class 41.<\/p>",
"decision_domains": {
"Grunecker-de.lat": "TRANSFERRED",
"Grunecker-de.sbs": "TRANSFERRED"
},
"panelist": null,
"panellists_text": null
}