| Glaxo Group Ltd. v. Turvill Consultants - NARD , British Columbia International Commercial Arbitration Centre Case No. 00044 - by Eric Macramalla |
Domain Name: advair.ca
OutCome: Transfer Granted
Response Filed: Transfer Granted
Panellist: Michael Mason
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The Complainant was the owner of a trade-mark registration for ADVAIR. The domain name resolved to a website located at legaldrugsonline.com, which offered products which competed with the ADVAIR product.
The Registrant did not file a Response to the Complaint, and accordingly the Complainant elected as per Rule 6(5) of the CIRA Domain Name Dispute Resolution Rules to reduce the three member Panel to a single member Panel.
Under the CIRA Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy ("CDRP"), a successful Complainant must establish that the disputed domain name is confusingly similar with a mark in which it had rights, that the name was registered in bad faith and that the Registrant does not have a legitimate interest in the domain name.
The Panel held that the domain name was confusing with the ADVAIR trade-mark. The Panel also held that the Registrant could not establish a legitimate interest in the domain name. Merely being a distributor of a trade-mark owner's products does not confer trade-mark rights on that distributor.
In finding bad faith registration, the Panel concluded that the Registrant had engaged in pattern of abusive registrations as per subparagraph 3.7(b). As well, the diversion of Internet traffic to a website offering competitor products qualified as bad faith registration as per subparagraph 3.7(c). |
