Gets Stuffed in Domain Name Dispute — Magic Bra

Bra firm fails in domain dispute.

A & H Sportswear Co., Inc., which holds two trademarks for “Magic Bra”, has lost a UDRP case for the domain name MagicBra.com.

The domain name was registered by Hu Yanlin of Beijing in 2001 and he states was never aware of A & H Sportswear’s marks. He also stated the term was descriptive in nature:

The Respondent submits that the term “magic bra” is a descriptive term which not only refers to a brassiere which will make breasts look bigger but also refers to different methods of breast enlargement such as by nutritional, sports or medial operative means and the Complainant cannot claim exclusive rights over general and descriptive words which are used in accordance with their natural meaning.

The WIPO panelist found that the domain name was confusingly similar to A & H Sportswear’s marks. But he also found that the complainant had not shown that Yanlin didn’t have rights or legitimate interests in the domain:

The Complainant asserts that its MAGIC BRA mark is well-known and that it owns exclusive rights in relation to the mark and that people would associate the mark with products produced by the Complainant and that it has not authorised the Respondent to use its mark and essentially that the Respondent is using its mark to attract traffic to its website. Still, none of these bald assertions are supported by any evidence or even by circumstantial evidence which would allow the Panel to draw appropriate inferences.

If it makes A & H feel better, it’s not missing out on a lot of traffic from the domain. Yanlin claimed the domain was only getting 2 visits per day.