Moncler recovers 148 domains in cybersquatting battle

Italian sportswear company Moncler has recovered 148 domain names featuring the company’s ‘Moncler’ trademark, with the majority selling counterfeit goods.

Moncler filed the complaint in February at the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Arbitration and Mediation Center and proceedings commenced two days later.

The domain names all featured the company’s trademark ‘Moncler’, and in most cases, the disputed domain consisted of the trademark followed by a descriptive element or a geographical element.

All but two of the disputed domain names resolved to a website which appears to offer ‘Moncler’-branded garments for sale.

A. Rothnie Warwick was appointed sole panelist and made the decision on April 10.

According to Warwick, the complainant says these websites are unauthorised. It also states that “the garments offered for sale are, or are likely to be, counterfeit in view of the prices being claimed.”

The individual registrant of all of the disputed domain names was Ndiaye Therese. In a number of cases, a registrant organisation called “newbeta” was also given.

The seven international trademark registrations made my Moncler cover numerous European countries and, in addition, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Vietnam and others.

Warwick stated that “combining the complainant’s trademark with descriptive or geographic elements is confusingly similar”.

Therese was also found not to have any rights or legitimate interests in the domains, as “there is no evidence to suggest that the respondent has any registered trademarks for Moncler” in either of the countries (Japan and France) in which she claimed to have an address.

Warwick concluded that as the complainant’s trademark was registered long before any of the disputed domain names, and that the respondent provided false information upon registering the domains, Therese was acting in bad faith.

The full decision can be found here