Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company v. Ebenezer Thevasagayam , British Columbia International Commercial Arbitration Centre Case No. 00043 - by Eric Macramalla |
Domain Name: entreprise.ca
OutCome: Transfer Granted
Response Filed: Yes
Panellist: Jacques Leger Q.C., Claude Freeman Pierre-Emmanuel Moyse (dissent)
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Doing business in Canada since 1993 in association with the ENTERPRISE mark, the Complainant was the owner of trade-mark registrations containing, or comprised of, the element ENTERPRISE.
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 Registrant was a well known cybersquatter, and owned a large portfolio of dot-ca domain names. The domain name was made to point to a customized Internet portal displaying a variety of links related to the Complainant's car-related services, including links to competitors of the Complainant.
In ordering the domain name transferred, the Panel held that the domain name was confusing to the ENTERPRISE trade-mark. To no avail, the Registrant argued that there was no confusion as the domain name was "entreprise" and not "enterprise", and as such was not a reference to the Complainant but simply a generic French word which could not be said to be distinctive of the Complainant.
In finding bad faith, the Panel held that the domain name was made to resolve to a customized Internet portal displaying links to businesses that compete directly with the Complainant. This was sufficient to establish bad faith as per subparagraph 3.7, which provides that bad faith will be found where a domain name was registered primarily with the intent of disrupting the business of the Complainant.
In dissent, Mr. Moyse took issue with the domain name being found to distinguish the goods/services of the Complainant from those of others based upon "entreprise" being an ordinary dictionary word. |