William H. Wilson registered the domain name
"BuyVuarnetSunglasses.com" in bad faith. However, he did not set up
a web site for it.
An action was brought against Wilson by Sporoptic Pouilloux
S.A., a company that owns the registered trade mark "VUARNET". It
uses the VUARNET trade mark for promoting a variety of products,
particularly sunglasses.
WIPOs regulations set out the requirements that must be
satisfied before it will order the transfer of a domain name.
Sporoptic had to show that the domain name was identical or
confusingly similar to its trade mark, that Wilson had no rights or
legitimate interests in respect of the name, and that the name had
both been registered in bad faith and that it was being
used in bad faith.
It was straightforward for Sporotpic to satisfy the WIPO panel
on all but the final point. However, Sporoptic could not prove that
the domain name was actually being used by Wilson.
The Panel hearing the case carried out investigations into
whether the domain name was being used. These included web and
e-mail searches; but it found no evidence that it was in use. As a
result it concluded that, even though it was satisfied that the
registration had been in bad faith, it could not take any action
because the name was not in use.
