In January we told you that the Government of Monaco, officially; Gouvernement de la Principauté de Monaco SAM Marques de l’Etat de Monaco filed a UDRP against the domain name MonteCarloVodka.com which is not only a domain name but a brand of Vodka.
Monaco wasn’t happy about their name being put on a Vodka, the logo on the bottle which they said closely resembled the coat of arms of the Principality of Monaco, all without their permission and to make matters worse the Vodka was produced not in Monaco but in France.
Today a one member UDRP panel awarded the domain to Monaco:
“The Panel accepts that the Complainants have rights in respect of the MONTE-CARLO trade mark on the basis of Monegasque trade mark No. 10.27960, registered on July 14, 2010, and International trade mark No. 1069076 registered on December 1, 2010 with a priority date of June 2, 2010.”
“The Disputed Domain Name incorporates the Complainants’ MONTE-CARLO trade mark in its entirety. ”
Except for a hyphen between “Monte” and “Carlo”, the only difference between the Disputed Domain Name and the Complainants’ mark is the inclusion of the generic term “vodka”.
The Panel finds that “Monte Carlo” is the distinctive and prominent component of the Disputed Domain Name and the addition of the generic term “vodka” and hyphen does nothing to distinguish the Disputed Domain Name from the Complainants’ trade mark.
The Complainants contend that the Respondent is not connected or associated with the Complainants and is not on any other basis licensed or authorised to use their MONTE-CARLO trade mark. The Panel accepts that the Complainants have not licensed or otherwise authorised the Respondent to use the MONTE-CARLO trade mark.
The Panel also notes that there is no evidence that the Respondent has been commonly known by the Disputed Domain Name and finds that the use of the Website to market and/or sell the Vodka precludes any argument that the Disputed Domain Name is being used for legitimate noncommercial or fair use purposes.
However in the current case, the Vodka has no affiliation with the city of Monte Carlo or the Principality of Monaco, and is in fact distilled and bottled in Cognac, France.
In addition, the Panel notes that each bottle of the Vodka bears the words “Monte Carlo” in large font, along with a logo which is similar to the coat of arms of the Principality of Monaco.…