National Arbitration Forum Issues Decision on AARP Web Address
The National Arbitration Forum announced today that a ruling has been issued in favor of AARP, a leading non-profit organization for individuals over fifty, regarding rights to the Internet domain name aarppharmacyservices.com.
AARP, represented by Melise R. Blakeslee of McDermott, Will, & Emery LLP, filed a complaint electronically with the National Arbitration Forum on July 12, 2005, asserting legal rights to the Web address bearing close resemblance to aarppharmacy.com.
Ruling in AARP’s favor, National Arbitration Forum arbitrator Sandra Franklin found that the other party, domains Ventures, registered the domain name aarppharmacyservices.com on October 18, 2003. The AARP trademark has been registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office since 1962.
The disputed domain name resolves to a website featuring links that contain AARP’s mark, as well as links to various competing and non-competing commercial websites for which domains Ventures was presumably receiving referral fees.
The arbitrator found that domains Ventures did not have legitimate rights to, or interest in, the disputed Web address, and that the Web address was confusingly similar to AARP’s trademark. The arbitrator also found that domain Ventures was using the address in bad faith by presumably profiting from the use of the domain name. Under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the disputed domain name will be transferred to AARP within ten business days unless domains Ventures commences a lawsuit contesting the decision.
posted by Fergie @ 8/29/2005 10:26:00 AM
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