The well-known social-media Instagram part of Facebook won a domain name dispute. The case filed before the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center regards a third party registered domain name for instagam.nl.
Instagram pointed out that this domain is confusingly similar to its registered trademarks INSTAGRAM insofar the difference is only one letter R.
According to the US company, the Respondent had no rights to or legitimate interests in the domain name. This domain was used to point to a webpage entitled “Instagam” under which it was stated: “Allways online / stay connected”. Below the title, the website displayed graphics containing the camera logos of Complainant. The website contained three hyperlinks, including a hyperlink resolving to a page which was headed “instagam IGTV: Watch Instagram Videos”. However, none of the hyperlinks enabled the viewing of videos of Complainant.
The Respondent didn’t use the domain for any goods and services in a fair trade way.
Instagram asserts that the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith. Bearing in mind that INSTAGRAM trademark is distinctive and well known throughout the world, Respondent could not reasonably argue that it did not have knowledge of it at the time of registration of the domain.
The WIPO Arbitration upheld all Instagram claims and transferred the domain name.
Source: WIPO.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PLANET 