WIPO announced that a rulling has been issued in favor of Google regarding rights to the Internet domain name googlepride.com . Google,represented in this case by Ranjan Narula Associates filed a complaint with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center,asserting legal rights to the disputed domain name.

The complainant owns many registration for the “Google” mark .Therefore,they contended in the complaint that the domain name is confusingly similar to its trademark.

Moreover,they contended that the respondent registered and used the domain name in bad faith.
“Respondent not only vanished after initially agreeing in the assignment of the disputed domain name, but the site “www.googlepride.com” is still operable. The Respondent has added a note at the last fourth of the site, stating that “Google and Google AdSense are trademarks of Google Inc., Neither are associated or affiliated with GooglePride.com”. This insertion, in fact, demonstrates the Respondent’s awareness of the Complainant and its marks and in this case supports a finding that the disputed domain name was registered in bad faith.

Because the respondent failed to submit a response in this proceeding and because the complainant managed to demonstrate all the elements needed,the Panel decided the disputed domain name be transferred from the respondent to the complainant.

Source: DomainNews.com