The Complainant Tumblr, Inc. just lost a UDRP on the domain name tublr.com and the domain holder represented Bai Ling of Chenzhou, Hunan, China represented himself.
Here are the relevant facts and findings by the one member panel.
Tumblr launched in 2007 and allows individuals to create, post and share digital content online. The Complainant’s platform hosts over 91 million blogs with over 140 million unique visitors per month.
The Complainant claims it has been using the trademark TUMBLR since February 19, 2007 in relation to its social sharing platform and media network and its mobile applications (including on iOS and Android systems) and has promoted the trademark TUMBLR in the United States and elsewhere.
The trademark TUMBLR has been registered as registration no 3,714,214 in the United States.
The application was filed on October 27, 2008 and achieved registration on November 24, 2009.
The Complainant registered the domain name tumblr.com on June 8, 2006 but only publicly launched its website under this domain name on February 19, 2007.
The Disputed Domain Name was registered on March 27, 2007.
On or before the time of the Complaint, the Disputed Domain Name redirected visitors to a website at “http://surveycentral.mgomoney.com/home.html?” which provided an online survey which purported to offer a chance to win some prizes after completion of the survey. The website does not provide any information about the Respondent.
“The Panel notes from the evidence that the website redirected from the Disputed Domain Name was designed to collect personal information while promising the chance to win a prize. ”
“However, it is not apparent to the Panel that the website incorporated any content which suggested any affiliation or connection to the Complainants or the trademark TUMBLR, or any other trustworthy entity. There is insufficient evidence in this case before the Panel to establish that the Respondent is using the Disputed Domain Name in a phishing scam.”
“The Respondent has made the point that the Disputed Domain Name was registered before the trademark TUMBLR was registered. ”
“The trademark application for TUMBLR was also filed over a year after the registration of the Disputed Domain Name. ”
“It is a consensus of previous panels that when a domain name is registered before a trademark right is established, the registration of the domain name would not have been in bad faith because the registrant could not have contemplated the complainant’s then non-existent right.…
