Rules NameMedia Can Keep Generic Pantaloons.com — UDRP Panelist

NameMedia wins UDRP case brought by Indian retailer.

NameMedia has successfully staved off an attack by Indian clothing retailer Pantaloon Retail for the domain name Pantaloons.com. The retailer is part of Future Group, and owns Pantaloon.com, but not the pural version.

Pantaloons is a generic, albeit somewhat antiquated, clothing term. But it’s still a generic word, the panelist noted.

NameMedia put up a SmartName shop on the domain name, which shows numerous product listings for pantaloons. Interestingly, the panelist questioned this online shop’s validity:

the offering of pantaloons for sale at the website, appears to the Panel to be contrived and there may well be grounds for questioning its validity. Clearly, from the evidence provided, Respondent is not itself offering pantaloons for sale, it is merely providing links to eBay and other sites where such offers are made. Still, in the light of the Panel’s conclusions in relation to Respondent’s second proposition, it is unnecessary for the Panel to decide that question.

NameMedia’s actual response in the case isn’t public, but from reading the panelist’s summary of the response, it doesn’t appear that the firm actually inferred that it personally sold pantaloons. Instead, it showed that it was using the domain name in a way that didn’t infringe on the complainant’s mark and only used the generic nature of the term.

The panelist ruled that NameMedia had rights or legitimate interests in the domain name.