Domain Privacy Service FBO Registrant / Cobra Jet, Cobrajetaviation Cobrajet, Inc. located in the United States, has filed an UDRP complaint to obtain the transfer of the domain name <cobrajetaviation.com>, reserved by the Egyptian company Cobra Jet, Cobrajetaviation which would harm its Egyptian trademark Cobrajet.
In February 2020, the applicant allegedly asked one of its employees to proceed with the registration of the name <cobrajetaviation.com> on his behalf. The latter would thus have reserved the name using his personal credit card first, and being reimbursed by the applicant later. When the job contract ended, he would have refused to transfer to the applicant the information she needed in order to take control over the domain name and its related website. This is a very common dispute and, once again, it give us the chance to recall the importance of establishing naming charter within the company and the importance of assuring the respect of good practices: each domain name must be reserved by the company and with a generic e-mail address of type nomsdedomaine@entreprise.com.
Moreover, since this dispute involves a contractual dispute rather than a dispute over the on a classic case of cybersquatting, the expert rejects the complaint believing that it is for the courts to deal with this matter which “generates questions of contractual breaches, breaches of contract, breaches of fiduciary duties and potentially questions related to local labor laws”. The expert also said and pointed out that even if he could have known about the case on the merits, he would certainly have rejected the complaint, for two major reasons.
On the one hand, in order to prove its right on the trademark, the applicant has submitted the certified translation of a trademark application in Egypt, filed on January 26, 2020 and not yet registered. The expert also notes that a certified translation is not enough to determine who is the true owner of the trademark and that the copy of the original document was missing as wall.
On the other hand, the expert believes that the applicant’s arguments are insufficient to demonstrate the defendant’s bad faith. He did not gave proof of the instructions addressed to the employee; therefore, it is not possible to determine whether he or she has complied with them. However, the UDRP procedure involves proving both the registration and the use of the name in bad faith.
Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that the complaint has a chance to succeed within the framework of the UDRP action, that it does not go beyond its scope and prepare the argument and the most important thing is to provide evident proof of its trademark right; presenting the request for a trademark that does not confer any protection. It should be also noted that the applicant gave an insufficient presentation of herself within the complaint, at the point that the expert indicates that they “presume” that the applicant is active in the aviation sector.
Source: WIPO, Arbitration and Mediation Center, Nov. 5, 2020, aff. No. D2020-2024 Cobrajet, Inc. v. The Endurance International Group, Inc,