À propos de la propriété intellectuelle Formation en propriété intellectuelle Sensibilisation à la propriété intellectuelle La propriété intellectuelle pour… Propriété intellectuelle et… Propriété intellectuelle et… Information relative aux brevets et à la technologie Information en matière de marques Information en matière de dessins et modèles industriels Information en matière d’indications géographiques Information en matière de protection des obtentions végétales (UPOV) Lois, traités et jugements dans le domaine de la propriété intellectuelle Ressources relatives à la propriété intellectuelle Rapports sur la propriété intellectuelle Protection des brevets Protection des marques Protection des dessins et modèles industriels Protection des indications géographiques Protection des obtentions végétales (UPOV) Règlement extrajudiciaire des litiges Solutions opérationnelles à l’intention des offices de propriété intellectuelle Paiement de services de propriété intellectuelle Décisions et négociations Coopération en matière de développement Appui à l’innovation Partenariats public-privé L’Organisation Travailler avec nous Responsabilité Brevets Marques Dessins et modèles industriels Indications géographiques Droit d’auteur Secrets d’affaires Académie de l’OMPI Ateliers et séminaires Journée mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle Magazine de l’OMPI Sensibilisation Études de cas et exemples de réussite Actualités dans le domaine de la propriété intellectuelle Prix de l’OMPI Entreprises Universités Peuples autochtones Instances judiciaires Ressources génétiques, savoirs traditionnels et expressions culturelles traditionnelles Économie Égalité des genres Santé mondiale Changement climatique Politique en matière de concurrence Objectifs de développement durable Application Technologies de pointe Applications mobiles Sport Tourisme PATENTSCOPE Analyse de brevets Classification internationale des brevets Programme ARDI – Recherche pour l’innovation Programme ASPI – Information spécialisée en matière de brevets Base de données mondiale sur les marques Madrid Monitor Base de données Article 6ter Express Classification de Nice Classification de Vienne Base de données mondiale sur les dessins et modèles Bulletin des dessins et modèles internationaux Base de données Hague Express Classification de Locarno Base de données Lisbon Express Base de données mondiale sur les marques relative aux indications géographiques Base de données PLUTO sur les variétés végétales Base de données GENIE Traités administrés par l’OMPI WIPO Lex – lois, traités et jugements en matière de propriété intellectuelle Normes de l’OMPI Statistiques de propriété intellectuelle WIPO Pearl (Terminologie) Publications de l’OMPI Profils nationaux Centre de connaissances de l’OMPI Série de rapports de l’OMPI consacrés aux tendances technologiques Indice mondial de l’innovation Rapport sur la propriété intellectuelle dans le monde PCT – Le système international des brevets ePCT Budapest – Le système international de dépôt des micro-organismes Madrid – Le système international des marques eMadrid Article 6ter (armoiries, drapeaux, emblèmes nationaux) La Haye – Le système international des dessins et modèles industriels eHague Lisbonne – Le système d’enregistrement international des indications géographiques eLisbon UPOV PRISMA Médiation Arbitrage Procédure d’expertise Litiges relatifs aux noms de domaine Accès centralisé aux résultats de la recherche et de l’examen (WIPO CASE) Service d’accès numérique aux documents de priorité (DAS) WIPO Pay Compte courant auprès de l’OMPI Assemblées de l’OMPI Comités permanents Calendrier des réunions Documents officiels de l’OMPI Plan d’action de l’OMPI pour le développement Assistance technique Institutions de formation en matière de propriété intellectuelle Mesures d’appui concernant la COVID-19 Stratégies nationales de propriété intellectuelle Assistance en matière d’élaboration des politiques et de formulation de la législation Pôle de coopération Centres d’appui à la technologie et à l’innovation (CATI) Transfert de technologie Programme d’aide aux inventeurs WIPO GREEN Initiative PAT-INFORMED de l’OMPI Consortium pour des livres accessibles L’OMPI pour les créateurs WIPO ALERT États membres Observateurs Directeur général Activités par unité administrative Bureaux extérieurs Avis de vacance d’emploi Achats Résultats et budget Rapports financiers Audit et supervision

WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center

ADMINISTRATIVE PANEL DECISION

The Swatch Group AG / Swatch AG v. packy phim

Case No. D2018-0851

1. The Parties

The Complainants are The Swatch Group AG / Swatch AG, both of Biel/Bienne, Switzerland, represented by Steven M. Levy, United States of America (“United States”).

The Respondent is packy phim of Emery, Utah, United States.

2. The Domain Name and Registrar

The disputed domain name <swatchqroup.com> is registered with PDR Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com (the “Registrar”).

3. Procedural History

The Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the “Center”) on April 16, 2018. On April 17, 2018, the Center transmitted by email to the Registrar a request for registrar verification in connection with the disputed domain name. On April 18, 2018, 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 April 20, 2018. In accordance with the Rules, paragraph 5, the due date for Response was May 10, 2018. The Respondent did not submit any response. Accordingly, the Center notified the Respondent’s default on May 11, 2018.

The Center appointed Steven A. Maier as the sole panelist in this matter on May 25, 2018. 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.

The Panel finds that the Complainants have a specific common grievance against the Respondent and that it would be equitable and procedurally efficient to permit a single proceeding by both Complainants against the Respondent.

4. Factual Background

The Complainants are companies having their principal place of business in Switzerland. The Complainant The Swatch Group AG is the parent company of the Complainant Swatch AG. The Complainants are suppliers of wristwatches under the name and trademark SWATCH.

The Complainants are the owners of various trademark registrations for the marks SWATCH and SWATCH GROUP, including International Trademark number 1187122 for the mark SWATCH GROUP, registered on September 18, 2013 in numerous classes of goods and services and designating a total of five jurisdictions.

The disputed domain name was registered on February 13, 2018.

The disputed domain name does not appear to have resolved to any active website. However, the Complainants have provided evidence of emails sent to several of its employees from an email address “[…]@swatchqroup.com”, purporting to come from the Complainants’ Chief Financial Officer and requesting the processing of payments.

5. Parties’ Contentions

A. Complainant

The Complainants state that they have continuously used the marks SWATCH and SWATCH GROUP since at least 1983 and that the marks are distinctive of the Complainants as an industry leader in the field of wristwatches. The Complainants produce evidence of substantial sponsorship, advertising and promotion associated with the marks SWATCH and SWATCH GROUP and of significant public recognition of those marks.

The Complainants submit that the disputed domain name <swatchqroup.com> is identical or confusingly similar to their trademarks SWATCH and SWATCH GROUP. They contend in particular that the disputed domain name consists of no more than a common misspelling of their mark SWATCH GROUP by the substitution of the letter “q” for the letter “g”.

The Complainants contend that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the disputed domain name. The Complainants say that the Respondent has no trademark rights corresponding to the disputed domain name, that it has not been commonly known by a name corresponding to the disputed domain name and that it is making neither bona fide commercial use nor legitimate noncommercial or fair use of the disputed domain name. Instead, the Complainants submit that the Respondent is using the disputed domain name in order to impersonate the Complainants for the purpose of a fraudulent “phishing” scheme as described above.

The Complainants submit that the Respondent registered and has used the disputed domain name in bad faith. The Complainants refer to the emails to their employees purporting to come from their Chief Financial Officer and say it is clear that the Respondent deliberately targeted their SWATCH and SWATCH GROUP trademarks in an attempt to perpetrate a financial fraud known as “whaling” or “spear fishing” upon them.

The Complainants request the transfer of the disputed domain name.

B. Respondent

The Respondent did not reply to the Complainants’ contentions.

6. Discussion and Findings

In order to succeed in the Complaint, the Complainants are required to show that all three of the elements set out under paragraph 4(a) of the Policy are present. Those elements are:

(i) that the disputed domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the Complainants have rights;

(ii) that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the disputed domain name; and

(iii) that the disputed domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.

Even in a case such as this where no Response has been filed, it is still necessary for the Complainants to establish that each of the above elements is present.

A. Identical or Confusingly Similar

The Complainants have established that they have registered trademark rights in the marks SWATCH and SWATCH GROUP. The disputed domain name is effectively identical to the Complainants’ trademark SWATCH GROUP but for the substitution of the letter “q” for the letter “g”. In the view of the Panel this substitution, which is of itself visually misleading, fails to distinguish the disputed domain name from the Complainant’s trademark SWATCH GROUP and the Panel therefore finds that the disputed domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the Complainants have rights.

B. Rights or Legitimate Interests

In the view of the Panel, the Complainants’ submissions set out above give rise to a prima facie case for the Respondent to answer that it has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the disputed domain name. However, the Respondent has not participated in this proceeding and has not, therefore, submitted any explanation for its registration and use of the disputed domain name, or evidence of rights or legitimate interests on its part in the disputed domain name, whether in the circumstances contemplated by paragraph 4(c) of the Policy or otherwise. There being no other evidence before the Panel of any such rights or legitimate interests, the Panel concludes that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the disputed domain name.

C. Registered and Used in Bad Faith

The Panel finds that the Complainants’ trademarks SWATCH and SWATCH GROUP are distinctive and widely known and can conceive of no explanation for the Respondent’s registration of the disputed domain name, which is inherently misleading, other than to impersonate the Complainant. The Panel also accepts the Complainant’s evidence, which the Respondent has not disputed, that the Respondent has used the disputed domain name for the purpose of sending emails to the Complainants’ employees in an apparent attempt to induce them to process fraudulent payments. Such use of the disputed domain name clearly constitutes use of the disputed domain name in bad faith and the Panel therefore concludes that the disputed domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.

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 <swatchqroup.com> be transferred to the Complainants.

Steven A. Maier
Sole Panelist
Date: June 6, 2018

https://www3.wipo.int/contact/fr/area.jsp?area=arbitration https://www.wipo.int/pressroom/fr/ https://www.wipo.int/tools/fr/disclaim.html https://www.wipo.int/fr/web/privacy-policy/ https://www.wipo.int/fr/web/accessibility/ https://www.wipo.int/tools/fr/sitemap.html https://www3.wipo.int/newsletters/fr/ https://www.wipo.int/podcasts/fr/ https://www.wipo.int/news/fr/