The International Olympics Committee is the authority which is responsible for conducting all the Olympics games. The IOC however was troubled over the misuse of a domain name. To counter it, the committee filed for a UDRP Complaint.
The Complaint was filed for the domain name SoccerStore.cc.. The Complainant, i.e, the IOC, claimed the ownership of several trademarks over THE OLYMPICS STORE mark. The Complainant argued that the domain name in question was used to redirect to a platform that sold fake Olympics medals. This was particularly disturbing for the Complainant regarding its association with the games. The domain name redirection was later shifted to Kilibuy.com.
The Respondent didn’t submit any response and was absent during the case proceedings. The panel however found that although the Complainant owns the trademark, it couldn’t be of much help in the arbitration of the said domain name. The principal term of Complainant’s mark is OLYMPICS, which is absent in the domain name. The singular similarity is of ‘STORE’ mark of which the Complainant does not have exclusive rights. Neither does it establish enough ground for such an extent of similarity that could confuse people.
The panel advised the Complainant to seek remedy at some other platform and denied the Complaint.
You can read the full case here.
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