This Complaint is to be decided under the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy and Rules ("the Policy" and "the Rules") and the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center's (the "Center") Supplemental Rules. The Center received the Complaint by Complainants via e-mail on March 17, 2000, and in hard copy on March 21, 2000. The required fee was paid.
This Panel agrees with the Center that the Complaint and all other communications were submitted in accordance with ICANN's Policy and Rules and the Center's Supplemental Rules.
<www.theboldandthebeautiful.com>, is identical to Complainant's service mark and is confusing to the public.
Under the Policy and the Rules, Respondent's default in responding allows this Panel to proceed to a decision based on the Complaint alone (the Rules, para 5(e).
The Complainant has provided (Complaint Exhibit C) a copy of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office registration no. 2,011,380 showing Complainant filed for the service mark The Bold and the Beautiful on November 21, 1994, and that this service mark was granted and registered on the Principal Register on October 29, 1996. In addition, this Panel takes note of the fact that Complainant's television show, The Bold and the Beautiful, is well-known in the United States and many foreign countries. Complainant states this television show has been broadcast since 1987.
The Complainant has not offered evidence that members of the public were actually confused by the Respondent's domain name registration. Nonetheless, given that Respondent's domain name, www.theboldandthebeautiful.com, is identical with Complainant's service mark, this Panel finds that confusion is ineluctable (the Policy para 4(a).
Complainant has shown (Complaint Exhibit E) that Respondent attempted to auction the disputed domain name at the website <http://auctions.yahoo.com/auction/12014106>. The auction price had reached seven thousand dollars U.S. ($7,000 U.S.) by March 4, 2000. Accordingly, this Panel infers that Respondent's motive for registering the disputed domain name was to sell it at auction on the internet for substantially more than Respondent paid for it (also a strong indication of bad faith as we discuss below). This is not a legitimate right or business interest under the Policy para 4(a), and no other right or interest is apparent.
Complainant has offered proof of three (3) instances of Respondent's bad faith in registering the disputed domain name. First, Complainant's service mark (Exhibit C), The Bold and the Beautiful, has been registered since October 29, 1996, and is well-known throughout the United States of America and in many other countries. Respondent must have known this when it registered the domain name <www.theboldandthebeautiful.com>. Complainant's television show of the same name has been airing since 1987. Respondent has blocked the rightful owner of the service mark, Complainant, from registering the domain name.
This Panel finds Complainant has proved Respondent's bad faith in registering the domain name <www.theboldandthebeautiful.com>.