The Petitioner is Statoil ASA of Norway, represented by Valea AB, Sweden.
The Domain Holder is Limited D-Max, D-Max Ltd., of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
This Alternative Dispute Resolution proceeding relates to the domain name <ststoil.se>.
This Petition was filed under the Terms and Conditions of registration (the ".se Policy") and the Instructions governing Alternative Dispute Resolution proceeding for domain names in the top-level domain .se (the ".se Rules").
The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center ("the Center") verified that the Petition satisfied the formal requirements of the .se Policy and the .se Rules. In accordance with Section 13 of the .se Rules, the Center formally notified the Domain Holder of the Petition on December 22, 2017. The Domain Holder did not submit any response and, accordingly, the Center notified the Domain Holder's default on January 23, 2018.
The Center appointed Jon Dal as the sole Arbitrator in this matter on February 7, 2018. The Arbitrator has submitted the Statement of Acceptance and Declaration of Impartiality and Independence, as required by the Center to ensure compliance with Section 1 of the .se Rules.
The Petition for the domain name <ststoil.se> was received by the Center on December 13, 2017. The Petitioner elected to have the dispute decided by one arbitrator. The Petitioner also elected to have the dispute decided as an Accelerated proceeding if the Domain Holder did not respond to the Petition. The Domain Holder did not submit any response to the Petition.
The Petitioner claims that the domain name <ststoil.se> shall be transferred to the Petitioner.
The trademark STATOIL is well known and has a good reputation both in Sweden and worldwide. The Petitioner is the owner of, inter alia, the European Union trademark No. 003657871 STATOIL. The disputed domain name <ststoil.se> is visually, phonetically and conceptually confusingly similar to the Petitioner's well-known trademark STATOIL.
The disputed domain name leads to a website with pay-per-click ads and information that the domain name is for sale. The Domain Holder leads traffic to its own website by using the Petitioner's trademark and then increases revenue through the sponsored links. The domain name has further been put up for sale. It can be assumed that the Domain Holder has seen the Petitioner as the main speculators of the domain name, since no one else has any right or justified interest to the domain name. The domain name has been registered and used in bad faith.
The Domain Holder is not affiliated or related to the Petitioner in any way, or licensed or otherwise authorized to use the STATOIL mark in connection with a website or for any other purpose. The Domain Holder is not using the domain name in connection with any bona fide offering of goods or services, is not generally known by the disputed domain name, and has not acquired any trademark or service mark rights in that name or mark. The Domain Holder has no rights to or justified interest in the disputed domain name.
The Domain Holder has not responded to the Petition.
A domain name may be deregistered or transferred to the party requesting dispute resolution proceedings if the following three conditions are fulfilled:
1. The domain name is identical or similar to:
a. a distinguishing product feature,
b. a distinguishing business feature,
c. a family name,
d. an artist's name (if the name is not associated with someone who deceased a long time ago),
e. a title of another party's copyrighted literary or artistic work,
f. a name that is protected by the Regulation concerning Certain Official Designations (1976:100),
g. a geographic designation or a designation of origin that is protected by the European Council's Regulation (EU) 510/2006,
h. a geographic designation that is protected by the European Council's Regulation (EU) 110/2008,
i. a geographic designation that is protected by the European Council's Regulation (EU) 1234/2007, or
j. the name of a government authority that is listed in the registry that Statistics Sweden must maintain under the Swedish Code of Statutes SFS 2007:755 (Government Agencies Register Ordinance), or its generally accepted abbreviation,
which is legally binding in Sweden and to which the party requesting dispute resolution can prove its rights, and
2. The domain name has been registered or used in bad faith, and
3. The domain holder has no rights or justified interest in the domain name.
All three conditions must be met in order for the party requesting dispute resolution to succeed with a claim for transfer of the domain name.
The disputed domain name is similar to the trademark STATOIL, which is legally binding in Sweden and to which the Petitioner can prove its rights.
Based on the record, the Arbitrator finds the disputed domain name has been registered and used in bad faith.
Based on the record, the Arbitrator finds the Domain Holder has no rights or justified interests in the disputed domain name.
For the foregoing reasons, in accordance with Section 21 of the .se Rules and Section 7.2 of the .se Policy, the Arbitrator orders that the domain name <ststoil.se> shall be transferred to the Petitioner.
Jon Dal
Date: February 8, 2018