FIMO.club: Interesting UDRP
Potential use as a fan site for a product saves domain name for respondent.
A single member World Intellectual Property Organization panel has denied a UDRP filed by Staedtler Mars GmbH for the domain name FIMO.club. Staedtler Mars GmbH sells a clay called FIMO that’s apparently popular with hobbyists.
The respondent was an unauthorized distributor of the product at a different business and admits to registering a number of domain names with FIMO in them. She stated she registered this domain to set up what is essentially a fan site.
Panelist Brigitte Joppich determined the domain name wasn’t registered and used in bad faith. Joppich gave benefit to the doubt of the registrant:
Still, the Respondent replied to the Complaint, did not provide false contact details and did not try to conceal her identity. Since of the above mentioned facts and the Respondent’s submissions in this matter, the Panel finds that the Complainant has failed to prove registration and use in bad faith.
She stated the claim was premature since “it is conceivable that the Respondent will use the disputed domain name without seeking to unfairly profit from the goodwill attached to Complainant’s FIMO Marks, the Panel finds in the specific circumstances of this case that the Complaint was brought prematurely.”
She noted that, ought to the respondent in the future use the disputed domain name in bad faith, the complainant could file a fresh case.
