Founded in 1845, the Complainant is a well known Swiss chocolate manufacturer and the holding company of the Lindt & Sprüngli Group, which produces premium chocolates at 12 production sites in Europe and the United States and sells them through 41 subsidiaries and branch offices, around 650 of its own stores, and a global network of approximately 100 distributors. The Group reported sales of CHF 5.92 billion in 2025. In 1998, the Complainant acquired the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company (“Ghirardelli”), one of the oldest chocolate companies in the United States, which was founded in 1852, is headquartered in California, and generated sales of approximately USD 888 million in FY 2024. The Complainant promotes and sells its GHIRARDELLI branded products online through its official website at <ghirardelli.com>, which domain name was registered in 1998, and it maintains a substantial social media presence for the GHIRARDELLI brand, including approximately 1.3 million followers on Facebook.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The disputed domain name <ghirardelliisell.com> was registered on August 29, 2026. As of September 16, 2026, it resolved to a website that presented itself as an official GHIRARDELLI online store, displaying the Complainant’s GHIRARDELLI logo and images of GHIRARDELLI branded products offered at significantly discounted prices, and leading internet users through a shopping cart to a checkout page that requested their name, postal address, telephone number, email address and payment card details. Later that same day, and following a takedown attempt by the Complainant, the disputed domain name resolved to an error page and it does not currently resolve to an active website.<\/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
<\/p>\n
The disputed domain name is confusingly similar to the Complainant’s GHIRARDELLI trademark as it is a misspelling thereof, adding an extra letter “i”, followed by the descriptive term “sell” and the “.com” TLD.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name as it is not commonly known thereby, it is not affiliated with or authorized by the Complainant, and it has used the disputed domain name for a website that impersonates the Complainant and solicits the personal and payment card information of internet users. The Respondent cannot qualify as a legitimate reseller under the Oki Data criteria and the present inactivity of the disputed domain name does not cure its prior abusive use.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The disputed domain name was registered and is being used in bad faith based on the reputation of the GHIRARDELLI trademark, the typosquatting nature of the disputed domain name, and the Respondent’s use thereof to attract internet users, for commercial gain, to a website that impersonates the Complainant under paragraph 4(b)(iv) of the Policy. The current inactivity of the disputed domain name does not prevent a finding of bad faith under the doctrine of passive holding.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
RESPONDENT<\/p>\n
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 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": [ "Steven Levy" ], "date_of_panel_decision": "2026-10-15 00:00:00", "informal_english_translation": "
The Complainant is the owner of numerous trademark registrations for the word mark GHIRARDELLI including the following:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
- United States trademark registration number 205776 for GHIRARDELLI in Class 30, registered on November 17, 1925;<\/p>\n
- United States trademark registration number 1645206 for GHIRARDELLI in Classes 16, 18, 21, 25, 30 and 42, registered on May 21, 1991; and<\/p>\n
- European Union trademark registration number 003716453 for GHIRARDELLI in Classes 30, 35, 42 and 43, registered on July 27, 2005.<\/p>", "decision_domains": { "ghirardelliisell.com": "TRANSFERRED" }, "panelist": null, "panellists_text": null }