BREAD & Butter GmbH & Co. of Berlin, Germany, which operates under the domain name 14oz.net just lost its bid to gain control of the domain name 14oz.com in a one person UDRP decision.
In the year 1999 the Complainant established a retail and wholesale business under the brand “14oz”.
The business mainly focusses on the design, production and retailing of high quality apparel. Until 2004 the Complainant maintained its business in the city of Cologne and then moved to Berlin. In October 2012 the Complainant opened a second retail-facility on Berlin-Kurfürstendamm.
The Complainant has a registered mark for 14OZ, filed on July 15, 1999 at the German Trademark Office and registered on January 19, 2000
The disputed domain name was first created on March 28, 2000. As confirmed by the Registrar, the disputed domain name was registered by the Respondent on December 31, 2003 (the day the disputed domain name was transferred to the Registrar, Go Daddy).
However, according to information attached to the Complaint (past WhoIs reports from “Domain Tools”) the Respondent was the registrant of the disputed domain name in 2001, before the 2003 date when the Registrar confirmed first registration by the Respondent. On its face, this evidence appears inconsistent, although in each case sourced from a third party.
As noted above, the disputed domain name was first registered in 2000, and first registered to the Respondent in 2003 (or earlier, according the Complaint). This means that the disputed domain name was registered around 13 years before the Complainant filed the Complaint. The Complainant provides no explanation as to why it took so long to file the Complaint.
The non-applicability of the defense of laches (i.e. undue delay) in UDRP proceedings has long been recognized by UDRP panels, over many years and a large body of jurisprudence.
While this Panel is aware that a small number of UDRP panelists have, on occasion, sought to put this question in issue (see e.g. Laminex, Inc. v. Yan Smith, NAF Claim No. FA1470990), this Panel sees no compelling reason to disrupt or depart from years of well settled UDRP jurisprudence on this point.
This does not mean that a delay may not be relevant in this proceeding, to the extent that it may relate particularly to the matters the Complainant must provide under paragraph 4(a)(ii) or (iii) of the Policy. To the extent issue of delay is relevant in these respects, the Panel has addressed it below.…
