WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center

ADMINISTRATIVE PANEL DECISION

Siemens AG and Siemens Trademark GmbH & Co. KG v. Domain Admin, Whois Privacy Corp.

Case No. D2020-2998

1. The Parties

The Complainants are Siemens AG and Siemens Trademark GmbH & Co. KG, Germany (the “Complainant”), represented by Müller Fottner Steinecke, Germany.

The Respondent is Domain Admin, Whois Privacy Corp., Bahamas.

2. The Domain Name and Registrar

The disputed domain name <siemensusa.com> is registered with Internet Domain Service BS Corp (the “Registrar”).

3. Procedural History

The Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the “Center”) on November 11, 2020. On November 11, 2020, the Center transmitted by email to the Registrar a request for registrar verification in connection with the disputed domain name. On November 11, 2020, the Registrar transmitted by email to the Center its verification response confirming that the Respondent is listed as the registrant and providing the contact details.

The Center verified that the Complaint satisfied the formal requirements of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy” or “UDRP”), the Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Rules”), and the WIPO Supplemental Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Supplemental Rules”).

In accordance with the Rules, paragraphs 2 and 4, the Center formally notified the Respondent of the Complaint, and the proceedings commenced on November 19, 2020. In accordance with the Rules, paragraph 5, the due date for Response was December 9, 2020. Apart from an email of November 19, 2020, no official Response was filed with the Center. On December 10, 2020, the Center transmitted the commencement of panel appointment process notice.

The Center appointed Louis-Bernard Buchman as the sole panelist in this matter on January 4, 2021. The Panel finds that it was properly constituted. The Panel has submitted the Statement of Acceptance and Declaration of Impartiality and Independence, as required by the Center to ensure compliance with the Rules, paragraph 7.

4. Factual Background

Siemens AG was founded over 150 years ago in Germany and is one of the world’s largest electrical engineering and technological services companies, active in the fields of Automation and Control, Power, Rail and Road Transport, Digital Information and Communications, and Household Appliances. It has extensive sales in 190 countries, including the United States of America.

Siemens Trademark GmbH and Co. KG is the trademark holding affiliate of Siemens AG and owns a large portfolio of registered trademarks containing the term “siemens”, including, inter alia, International trademark registration No. 637074 for SIEMENS registered on March 31, 1995, covering more than 60 countries, including the United States of America (referred to hereinafter as: “the Mark”).

The Complainant owns many domain names with the element “siemens” alone, such as <siemens.com>, which resolves to its global website, or combined with another element.

The disputed domain name <siemensusa.com> was registered on November 26, 2005.

The disputed domain name is registered in the name of a proxy service.

The Complainant has submitted evidence that when active, the disputed domain name resolved to a website containing sponsored links.

5. Parties’ Contentions

A. Complainant

(i) The Complainant submits that the disputed domain name reproduces the Mark, in which the Complainant has rights, and is confusingly similar to the Mark insofar as the disputed domain name, <siemensusa.com>, contains the distinctive element “siemens” in its entirety, followed by the geographical term “usa”, such addition not being capable of dispelling the confusing similarity.

(ii) The Complainant contends that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the disputed domain name. Furthermore, the Complainant contends that it never authorized the Respondent to use the Mark in any manner and that the Respondent has never had any affiliation with the Complainant.

(iii) The Complainant submits that the Respondent has registered and is using the disputed domain name in bad faith. The Complainant alleges that the Respondent had knowledge of the Mark when registering the disputed domain name.

(iv) The Complainant submits that by creating confusion with the Mark for commercial gain, the Respondent is using the disputed domain name in bad faith.

(v) The Complainant requests that the disputed domain name be transferred to Siemens AG.

B. Respondent

The Respondent did not reply to the Complainant’s contentions.

6. Discussion and Findings

6.1. Procedural Aspects: Identity of the Respondent and Failure to Respond

Under the Rules, paragraphs 5(f) and 14(a), the effect of a failure to submit a formal response by the Respondent is that, in the absence of exceptional circumstances, the Panel shall proceed to a decision on the basis of the Complaint.

The Complaint asserts that it should be assumed that Steve Pallos, Lumis, is the actual person who registered the disputed domain name under a privacy service. To support that assertion, the Complainant produced as evidence two emails from that person, respectively dated November 5 and November 9, 2020. However, in response to the Center’s request for registrar verification in connection with the disputed domain name, the Registrar did not confirm that assertion. Moreover, the Panel notes on the one hand that the Complainant did not amend its Complaint to name Mr. Pallos, Lumis, as Respondent, and on the other hand that the Center received on November 19, 2020 an email from the co-founder of Lumis, Mr. Michalec, stating that “Lumis is in no way associated with the owner of Siemensusa.com, we’re not representing the owner of that domain name and we do not own this domain name ourselves”. On the balance of the evidence, it is the assessment of the Panel that Mr. Pallos, Lumis, is under the circumstances not to be considered as the registrant of the disputed domain name, hence not the Respondent in this case.

Under paragraph 4(a) of the Policy, it is the Complainant’s burden to establish that all three of the required criteria for a transfer of the disputed domain name have been met, even in the absence of a formal response.

Under paragraph 14(b) of the Rules, the Panel is empowered to draw such inferences from the Respondent’s failure to file a formal response as it considers appropriate under the circumstances.

In this case, the Panel finds that the Respondent has failed to rebut any of the reasonable factual assertions that are made and supported by evidence submitted by the Complainant.

In particular, by failing to respond, the Respondent has failed to offer the Panel any of the types of evidence set forth in paragraph 4(c) of the Policy or otherwise, from which the Panel might conclude that the Respondent has any rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name, such as making legitimate noncommercial or fair use of the disputed domain name.

Moreover, as discussed below, the Respondent has failed to provide any exculpatory information or reasoning that might have led the Panel to question the Complainant’s arguments that the Respondent has acted in bad faith.

6.2. Requirements of paragraph 4(a) of the Policy

A. Identical or Confusingly Similar

In comparing the Mark with the disputed domain name <siemensusa.com>, it is evident that the latter consists of the Mark, followed by the geographical term “usa” and the generic Top-Level Domain (“gTLD”) “.com”.

It is well established that a gTLD does not generally affect the assessment of a domain name for the purpose of determining identity or confusingly similarity.

The Panel finds that the disputed domain name <siemensusa.com> is confusingly similar to the Mark, which is incorporated in its entirety, but followed by the geographical term “usa”, and that the addition of that term does not avoid a finding of confusing similarity, because the Mark is plainly recognizable within the disputed domain name. See WIPO Overview of WIPO Panel Views on Selected UDRP Questions, Third Edition (“WIPO Overview 3.0”), section 1.8.

Thus, the Complainant has satisfied the requirement of paragraph 4(a)(i) of the Policy.

B. Rights or Legitimate Interests

Although a complainant bears the ultimate burden of establishing all three elements of paragraph 4(a) of the Policy, UDRP panels have recognized that with regard to paragraph 4(a)(ii) of the Policy, this could result in the often impossible task of proving a negative proposition, requiring information that is primarily, if not exclusively, within the knowledge of a respondent.

Thus, the consensus view of UDRP panels is that paragraph 4(c) of the Policy shifts the burden of production of evidence to the respondent to come forward with evidence of rights or legitimate interests in a domain name, once the complainant has made a prima facie showing, as the Panel finds the Complainant has made in this case, based on the facts and arguments set out above. See Document Technologies, Inc. v. International Electronic Communications Inc., WIPO Case No. D2000-0270, and WIPO Overview 3.0, section 2.1.

As previously noted, the Respondent offered no reason for selecting the disputed domain name. There is no evidence that the Respondent is known by the disputed domain name or uses (or has made bona fide preparations to use) the disputed domain name in a business or otherwise.

The disputed domain name, when active, resolved to a website containing sponsored links.

No information is provided on what rights or legitimate interests the Respondent may have in the disputed domain name.

To counter any notion that the Respondent has such rights or legitimate interests, the Complainant has argued that the Respondent (i) has no affiliation with the Complainant, (ii) received no authorization from the Complainant to register or use the disputed domain name and (iii) used the disputed domain name to tarnish the Mark and for commercial gain.

In the circumstances, the Panel concludes that the Complainant has established the requirement of paragraph 4(a)(ii) of the Policy with respect to the disputed domain name.

C. Registered and Used in Bad Faith

As noted above, the Respondent has failed to provide any exculpatory information or persuasive reasoning that might have led the Panel to question the Complainant’s arguments that the Respondent acted in bad faith by creating confusion to the detriment of the Complainant in registering a domain name confusingly similar to the Mark.

It is established in prior UDRP decisions that where the respondent knew or should have known of a trademark prior to registering the disputed domain name, such conduct may be, in certain circumstances, sufficient evidence of bad faith registration and use. See Weetabix Limited v. Mr. J. Clarke, WIPO Case No. D2001-0775.

In this case, considering the facts that the disputed domain name resolved to a website containing sponsored links and that prior UDRP panels have found the Mark to be famous (see Siemens AG v. Dorofeev, Konstantin, WIPO Case No. D2013-0923, Siemens AG v. Mr. Ozgul Fatih, WIPO Case No. D2010-1771 and Nokia Corporation, Siemens AG, Nokia Siemens Networks Oy v. Chen Fang Fang, WIPO Case No. D2008-1908), the Panel finds it impossible to believe that the Respondent chose to register the disputed domain name randomly with no knowledge of the Mark. See Barney’s Inc. v. BNY Bulletin Board, WIPO Case No. D2000-0059; Kate Spade, LLC v. Darmstadter Designs, WIPO Case No. D2001-1384, citing Cellular One Group v. Paul Brien, WIPO Case No. D2000-0028; and SembCorp Industries Limited v. Hu Huan Xin, WIPO Case No. D2001-1092.

Prior UDRP panels have held that bad faith use of a domain name by a respondent may also result from the fact its good faith use is in no way plausible, considering the specificity of the activity (see Audi AG v. Hans Wolf, WIPO Case No. D2001-0148). The Panel finds it is indeed not possible to imagine any plausible future active use of the disputed domain name that would not be illegitimate, considering the specificity of the Complainant’s activity and the renown of its Mark.

Furthermore, prior UDRP panels have also held that deliberate concealment of identity and contact information may in certain circumstances be indicative of bad faith (see TTT Moneycorp Limited v. Diverse Communications, WIPO Case No. D2001-0725, and Schering Corporation v. Name Redacted, WIPO Case No. D2012-0729). In this case, the Respondent has taken active steps to hide its identity and has submitted no evidence of any good faith use of the disputed domain name. The Panel also notes that although using a privacy service to hide the identity of the registrant is not per se conclusive of bad faith registration and use (see Trinity Mirror Plc and MGN Ltd. v. Piranha Holdings, WIPO Case No. D2008-0004), the fact that the Respondent used a privacy service to hide its identity and contact details prevented the Complainant from contacting it.

Finally, prior UDRP panels have held that in certain circumstances, registrants of domain names have an affirmative duty to abstain from registering and using a domain name which is either identical or confusingly similar to a prior trademark held by others and that contravening that duty may constitute bad faith. See Policy, paragraph 2(b); Nike, Inc. v. B. B. de Boer, WIPO Case No. D2000-1397; Nuplex Industries Limited v. Nuplex, WIPO Case No. D2007-0078; Mobile Communication Service Inc. v. WebReg, RN, WIPO Case No. D2005-1304; BOUYGUES v. Chengzhang, Lu Ciagao, WIPO Case No. D2007-1325; Media General Communications, Inc. v. Rarenames, WebReg, WIPO Case No. D2006-0964; and mVisible Technologies, Inc. v. Navigation Catalyst Systems, Inc., WIPO Case No. D2007-1141.

The Panel concludes in the light of all these circumstances that the Respondent’s registration and use of the disputed domain name constitute bad faith, and that the requirement of paragraph 4(a)(iii) of the Policy is also satisfied in this case.

7. Decision

For the foregoing reasons, in accordance with paragraphs 4(i) of the Policy and 15 of the Rules, the Panel orders that the disputed domain name, <siemensusa.com>, be transferred to Siemens AG.

Louis-Bernard Buchman
Sole Panelist
Date: January 8, 2021