Third, the Respondent registered the Disputed Domain Names at least eight years after the
Complainant registered its TAOBAO trademarks. Therefore, it is likely that the
Respondent knew about the Respondent’s TAOBAO trademarks when it registered the
Disputed Domain Names. The Respondent’s claim of being the official partner of the
Taobao Marketplace and the Respondent’s use of the Complainant’s Tao Doll in the
Respondent’s websites confirms this assumption.
Fourth, it is likely that the Respondent intentionally attempts to attract, for commercial
gain, Internet users to its website, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the
Complainant’s TAOBAO trademarks on the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or
endorsement because it uses its “www.open-taobao.com” and the “www.tao-imagine.com”
to divert customers to its Russian Website, which is evidence of bad faith registration and
use under the Paragraph 4(b)(iv) of the UDRP.
Finally, the Respondent’s registration and use of the Inactive Domain Names is also in bad
faith. It is well-established that passive holding of the domain name “does not as such
prevent a finding of bad faith. The panel must examine all the circumstances of the case to
determine whether the respondent is acting in bad faith. Examples of what may be
cumulative circumstances found to be indicative of bad faith include the complainant
having a well-known trademark, no response to the complaint having been filed, and the
registrant's concealment of its identity. Panels may draw inferences about whether the
domain name was used in bad faith given the circumstances surrounding registration, and
vice versa.” 15 The circumstances and the Respondent’s pattern of registering domain
names reflecting the Complainant’s trademark show that the Respondent had been acting
in bad faith.
The Panel, therefore, finds that the Complainant established the third element of paragraph
4(a) of the UDRP.
6.
Decision
Under paragraphs 4(i) of the Policy and 15 of the Rules, the Panel orders that the Disputed
Domain Names open-taobao.com; tao-0.com; tao-api.info; tao-imagine.com; taomama.com; tao-sp.org; тао-бао.com (xn----7sbbd7ddw.com); таобао-форум.com (xn---7sbad1dicbsmtj.com); taobao-sp.org be transferred to the Complainant.
Olga Zalomiy
Sole Panelist
Dated: January 12, 2015
15
Paragraph 3.2 of WIPO Overview 2.0.
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