PRL USA Holdings Inc, owner of the brands, enjoys annual sales
exceeding $4 billion worldwide. However, it failed to show that the
owner of the contested domain names had registered the names and
used them in bad faith. The owner is an entity called “Polo,” which
used a PO Box address in Baltimore, Maryland.
WIPO panellist M. Scott Donahey wrote that the company “failed
to make any factual allegations as to nature of use.” He noted
that, had the company been able to show non-use of the names, there
may be grounds for recovery. Instead, Donahey entered the names in
his own computer – and found that they took him to polo.com – the
official web site of Ralph Lauren.
The fashion company did not bother to make contact with the
registered owner of the domain names and the owner did not respond
to the WIPO complaint. In the circumstances, Donahey considered
that bad faith had not been established, which is required by the
rules, and consequently rejected Ralph Lauren’s case.
