Association pour la défense et la promotion de L’œuvre de Marc Chagall dite “Comite Marc Chagall” is an entity established by the estate belonging to the renowned painter Marc Chagall. The painter’s artwork is valued at millions of dollars.
The entity was displeasured by the registration of the domain name Chagall.com. It thus filed a Complaint at WIPO in relation to the said domain name.
The Complainant presents the existence of several CHAGALL related trademarks, registered in September 1986. The Complainant marks that a google search to the term in question would render results related with the Complainant. Moreover, the Complainant alleges that the Respondent doesn’t have any legitimate interest in the domain name as the same was offered for sale in 2005.
The Respondent registered the disputed domain name in March 2000. The Respondent argued that he acquired the domain name not because of its relation with the Complainant but because of an alternate meaning related to it. The CHAGALL can also be seen as a Hebrew term having sexual connotations with the term meaning concubine. The Respondent also presented the possession of a similar domain anak.com. Anak in Hebrew refers to a giant.
The panel noted that the contentions of both the parties are equal. However, the claims of the Respondent can’t be neglected as it does offer an explanation of his domain registration. The panel noted that in UDRP cases the burden of proof rests on the Complainant. Since, the Complainant failed to prove so, the Complaint was denied.
You can read the full case here.
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