The domain name RegalGames.com was at the center of a dispute between a toy and games company and a private individual. The Complainant was Regal Games LLC while the Respondent was Wolfgang Sauer.
The Complainant has the trademark rights over the term ‘Regal Games’. The Complainant argues that the Respondents domain name is confusingly similar to its trademarks as well as domain name Regal-games.com. The Complainant presents that the domain name has been registered in bad faith as it never gave Respondent the permission to use its trademark names. They claim that the Respondent is a well-known bad actor who is involved in several other cases.
The Respondent contests that the trademark rights violation cannot be sought of as the domain name predates the registered trademark rights. He also showed screenshots from the domain name stating that he did use the domain name. He contested that the date of the registration of domain name was falsely provided by the Complainant and applied for RDNH, instead.
The panel did accept the first part of domain name being confusingly similar. However, when it came to the other two provisions, the court decided differently. The panel found that the Complainant has failed to prove neither the Respondent’s lack of Legitimate Interests nor the point of Bad faith. The court pointed out that the Complainant’s mistake in providing domain name registration date could be seen as an attempt to mislead the panel.
The panel stated the decision in favor of the Respondent and ordered the domain name to stay with him. The panel also decided in favor of the RDNH.
Read about the case in detail, here.
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