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Dating app Tinder has recovered a domain name which resolved to a dating service site.
Tinder filed its complaint at the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Arbitration and Mediation Center on January 3 this year.
The disputed domain name, tinderplusplus.com, was registered by the respondent in November 2014.
Tinder argued that the domain was “virtually identical” and confusingly similar to its trademark, and that the site offered a desktop application that featured the Tinder Plus service.
The dating app business has owned a trademark for the term ‘Tinder’ since February 2014.
Tinder Plus is a “premium addition” and in-app subscription to the standard Tinder service. It gives its users access to features such as rewind and passport, according to the company’s site.
The dating service also argued that the respondent had no rights or legitimate interests in the domain and that it is being used in bad faith.
According to Tinder, it sent a cease-and-desist letter to the respondent in October last year. The respondent did not reply to Tinder’s complaint.
Sole panellist in the dispute, Lawrence Nodine, handed Tinder the domain on February 20. The decision was published yesterday, March 1.
Nodine ruled that the domain is confusingly similar to Tinder’s mark.
After Tinder successfully argued a prima facie case, Nodine said that the respondent was offering “added functionality" to Tinder's app and passed himself off as the company.
The respondent also duplicated Tinder’s webpage and logo, and because of this “mimicking”, Nodine ruled that the respondent had no rights or legitimate interests in the domain.
For the finding of bad faith, Nodine said that until the respondent received Tinder’s cease-and-desist letter, “the domain name resolved to a website for an online dating service”.
“This is persuasive evidence that respondent was aware of complainant's mark and registered the disputed domain name in bad faith,” said Nodine.
The ruling can be viewed in full here.
World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center, Tinder, dating app, dating services, trademark, bad faith, bona fide,
