Ticket Software, LLC of South Windsor, Connecticut, just got the domain name TickerNetwork.com in a UDRP based off a trademark for the term Ticket Network.
Here are the relevant facts and findings of the one member panel:
“The Complainant hosts an online marketplace for event tickets to concert, sport, and theater events in the United States of America (U.S.) and globally. ”
“Through its infrastructure, the Complainant connects buyers and sellers with ticket inventory listings to various events worldwide. The network of websites include: TicketNetwork Point-of-Sale, TicketNetwork Online Exchange, and TicketNetwork/ TicketBoard Pro.
The Complainant is the registrant of the mark TICKETNETWORK under U.S. Reg. No. 2966502, registered on May 31, 2005 and claiming goods and services related to computer software and providing an online marketplace for buyers and sellers of entertainment tickets.
The Respondent provides goods and services, though the exact nature of same is not known from the record.
The Respondent has owned registered domain names that include the words “ticker” and “network” prior to the filing date of the within Complaint.
These registered domain names include the following
securityticker.com November 7, 2002
tickerboard.com March 3, 2000
tickercast.com March 4, 2000
videonetwork.com April 20, 1997
datanetwork.com June 21, 1997
cablenetwork.com November 1, 1997
contentnetwork.com November 12, 1998
streamnetwork.com December 13, 1999
The Respondent has over 100 domain name registrations with the word “ticker” or “network” that have been in use prior to the filing date of the Complaint.
In the present case, the Panel finds that the Complainant has established that the Complainant owns rights in the TICKETNETWORK mark.
First, the TICKETNETWORK mark was used by the Complainant since at least March 31, 1996, all as indicated in the U.S. registration details submitted by the Complainant and that it was used specifically in connection with the goods/services that are directly related to its core business.
Second, the Complainant owns a federally registered trademark/service mark for the TICKETNETWORK mark in the U.S..
Finally, the disputed domain name and the Complainant’s TICKETNETWORK mark only differ in terms of a single letter and are therefore nearly identical.
First, the Respondent claims that it has an interest in the disputed domain name because “Ticker Network” is a common descriptive term referring to “[a]ny of various devices that receive and display similar information, such as stock market quotations, electronically” and uses the disputed domain name “to post advertising links, which relate to stocks”.…
