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Disney wins WatchDisney.com domain name in arbitration

An arbitrator with the National Arbitration Forum has awarded WatchDisney.com domain name to Disney Enterprises .Disney submitted a complaint to the National Arbitration Forum on May 14,2012 ,asserting legal rights over the disputed domain name. Disney owns many trademark registrations for the "Disney" mark.Therefore,it is more than obvious that the disputed domain name is confusingly similar to its trademark.Moreover,the company contended and managed to demonstrate that the respondent registered and used the domain name in bad faith :

"Complainant shows that Respondent has established a pattern of bad faith conduct by registering domain names that contain the trademarks of third-parties thereby demonstrating bad faith registration and use ."

"Respondent’s use of its confusingly similar domain name in the manner discussed above indicates that Respondent commercially gains, or intends to commercially gain, by using the referenced website to infringe Complainant’s works. "

"Respondent's unauthorized commercial offering of Complainant's well known motion picture works on Respondent’s website shows that Respondent had actual knowledge of Complainant's DISNEY mark and its rights therein prior to registering the at-issue domain name. Likewise, the fame and notoriety of the DISNEY mark also leads to the conclusion that Respondent must have been aware of Complainant’s DISNEY mark."

The Panel ordered the disputed domain name to be transferred from the respondent to the complainant.

You can read the decision here .

 

 
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