The domain name WNP.com was saved in a UDRP decided by the ADR Center of the Czech Arbitration Court (CAC).
The UDRP was actually filed on several domain names:
wnp.com first registered on 9 June 1997
williams-partner.com first registered on 18 June 2003
williamspartner.com first registered on 18 June 2003;
williamsandpartner.com first registered on 18 June 2003.
The CAC found seemed not to believe either parties claims or their presentation of the facts which where very complicated and hard for the panel to understand.
It seemed that the complainant that may have had a trademark on the term Williams & Partner tried to use that trademark to get the “matching” three letter domain WNP.com (the N standing for and”) which the CAC found was a huge stretch for such a generic term.
Here are the relevant facts and findings by the Panel
“”The Complainant is a company established pursuant to Slovak law.
The Respondent is a company based in the Seychelles.
“Prior to the filing of the Complaint the Domain Names would re-direct internet users to a website operating from the domain name espartners.cz; with the headings “Executive Search Partners” and “The Total Deception Detection Blueprint”. At the bottom of that page was to be found the text:
“Executive Search Partners is a division of The Runa Group B.V. a Venture Capital & Business Incubator specialist with activities in Europe, Russia & CIS, Japan and the United States”
As at the date of this decision all of the Domain Names divert to the same website operating from espartners.cz
The Complainant claims to be engaged in the business of recruitment and management consultancy in Central and Eastern Europe. It claims to be the successor in business to a business that from marketing materials annexed to the Complaint would appear to have been established in 2003.
The Complainant possesses the Czech trade mark already described above for “WILLIAMS & PARTNER”.
The material appended to the Complaint in this respect is in Czech and accordingly unintelligible to the Panel.
Nevertheless, the Czech trade mark office provides online an English language version of the material appended to the Complaint. This shows (a) that prior to February 24, 2012, the trade mark was registered in the name of “Williams & Partner sro”; and (b) that on February 24, 2012 the trade mark was transferred into the name of the Complainant; i.e. “Williams &; Partner CEE s.r.o”.…
