Earlier, we had reported about the case of UrbanKhadiClub.com. Khadi and Village Industries Commission, India (KVIC) had reached WIPO for arbitration over this domain name. Today we came across another interesting case where KVIC sought relief from WIPO over a domain name.
The domain name in question here was KhadiIndia.com. The Respondent had registered the domain name in May 2015. KVIC had registered KHADI trademark rights in India and in several other countries since 2014. Both the parties are involved in several other domain name disputes as well.
The Panel noted that even in previous cases it was noted that KHADI is not a generic term as contested by the Complainant. The Respondent’s logic that the Complainant has no rights in the US falls short as the domain name here in question is not of a .us TLD but of .com. This considerably enlarges the applicability of the domain name. The Correspondent should have looked for registered trademarks at the time of registration. Considering the term here, India should have been the first to look for.
The relief was granted and the domain name was transferred.
Read the full case here.
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