Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
1. The Parties
The disputed domain name <mobilcom.com> (the “Domain Name”) is registered with
Network Solutions, LLC (the “Registrar”).
3. Procedural History
The Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the “Center”)
on December 15, 2005. On December 19, 2005, the Center transmitted by email to the
Registrar a request for registrar verification; on December 21, 2005, the Registrar
transmitted by email to the Center its verification response confirming that Respondent is
listed as the registrant and providing the contact details for the administrative, billing, and
technical contact. The Center verified that the Complaint satisfied the formal
requirements of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy”), the
Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Rules”), and the
WIPO Supplemental Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy.
In accordance with the Rules, paragraphs 2(a) and 4(a), the Center formally notified
Respondent of the Complaint, and the proceedings commenced on December 29, 2005.
In accordance with the Rules, paragraph 5(a), the due date for Response was January 18,
2006. There is no dispute that Respondent received timely notice of the Center’s
notification of the commencement of the proceedings.
Respondent did not submit a timely Response. Accordingly, the Center notified
Respondent’s default on January 19, 2006.
Later on January 19, 2006, the Center received an email from Respondent’s counsel
requesting, under the “exceptional cases” provision of paragraph 5(d) of the Rules, an
extension of the deadline by which Respondent would be permitted to submit its
Response. Respondent based its request on an alleged clerical error by which it had
entered the deadline in its calendar as January 28, 2006, instead of the actual deadline,
January 18, 2006. Respondent’s counsel further stated that he would submit a Response
“as soon as possible” and requested that the Center grant an extension until
January 28, 2006.
On Friday, January 27, 2006, Respondent submitted a Petition for Consideration of Late-
Filed Response, along with a copy of the proposed Response. In its Petition, Respondent
repeated the reason for its late filing, claiming that it only learned of the actual deadline
on January 19, 2006, when it received the notice of default from the Center. Respondent
further claimed that it could not file its submission immediately upon learning of the
default because its counsel was engaged in another WIPO filing, which was due on
January 25, 2006. Respondent therefore requested that the Panel accept the late-filed
Response in the interest of “fairness and substantial justice” pursuant to the Panel’s
authority under paragraph 10(c) of the Rules, which allows the Panel to “extend, in
exceptional cases, a period of time fixed by these Rules.”
The Center appointed David H. Bernstein as the sole panelist in this matter on
January 30, 2006. The Panel finds that it was properly constituted. The Panel has
submitted the Statement of Acceptance and Declaration of Impartiality and
Independence, as required by the Center to ensure compliance with the Rules, paragraph
7. Because of the complex procedural issue raised by this late-filed Response, the Panel
extended the time for decision from February 13, 2006, to February 24, 2006, pursuant to
paragraph 10(c) of the Rules.
This procedural history presents the difficult question of whether Respondent’s late-filed
Response should be accepted. This issue was discussed at some length in 1099 Pro, Inc.
v. Convey Compliance Systems, Inc., WIPO Case No. D2003-0033 (April 1, 2003). In
that case, the three-member Panel (on which this Panelist sat) wrote:
“In the early days of the Policy, some panels were willing to accept late-filed responses if
they were submitted prior to the appointment of the panel on the theory that the Rules
were still relatively new and some flexibility should be shown, especially when there was
no prejudice. See, e.g., Talk City, Inc. v. Michael Robertson, WIPO Case No. D2000-
0009 (February 29, 2000). Now, more than three years later, the Internet community has
had a wealth of experience with the Rules, making it appropriate to revisit this approach.
“On this question, there is a split amongst the Panel. In one Panelist’s view, default
proceedings under the Policy should be avoided when it is reasonable to do so, taking
into account paragraph 10(b) of the Rules providing that, ‘[t]he Panel shall ensure that the
Parties are treated with equality and that each Party is given a fair opportunity to present
its case.’ In this proceeding, since there is no apparent prejudice to Complainant from an
initial Response filed on the date of the default notification, followed by an Amended
Response one week later, one Panelist would accept the Amended Response.
“The majority, however, believes that it is important to apply the Rules as written, absent
a good reason. Otherwise, parties will feel free to disregard deadlines and Respondents
will regularly submit late responses. Thus, absent good cause, the majority of the Panel
holds that late-filed responses should be disregarded.1”
In the 1099 Pro case, the panel ultimately held that respondent’s assertion that it did not
file its response on time because it was its “busiest time of our season” was not good
cause for missing the deadline. The panel thus rejected the late-filed responses. Some
panels since then have taken a similar approach. See, e.g., Museum of Science v. Jason
Dare, WIPO Case No. D2004-0614 (October 11, 2004) (rejecting 16-day delay because
“[m]any panels have disregarded late-filed responses making clear that it is important to
apply the Rules as written, absent a good reason, otherwise parties will feel free to
disregard deadlines and [r]espondents will regularly submit late responses”);
Fashiontv.com GmbH v. Chris Olic, WIPO Case No. D2005-0994 (December 8, 2005)
(rejecting response filed two days late when only cause given was that respondent had
“‘difficulties’ in obtaining evidence, without any explanation of what those ‘difficulties’
were”); OMV AG v. SC Mondokommerz SRL, WIPO Case No. DRO2005-0005 (January
5, 2006) (declining to find exceptional circumstances where respondent’s excuse for
eight-day delay was “the misplacement of files in the respondent’s archive” and “the
need to extensively research the complex case-law surrounding the subject”).
It has now been another three years, and the Rules governing UDRP proceedings are
even more well known.2 This Panel thus reaffirms its view that, absent exceptional
circumstances supported by good cause, panels should not accept late-filed responses,
even in the absence of prejudice.
Such a showing of good cause is absent in this case. Respondent concedes that it learned
of the “clerical error” that led to this late filing on Thursday, January 19, 2006. Although
Respondent’s counsel then promised to submit a Response “as soon as possible,”
Respondent did not submit a Response until more than a week later, on Friday, January
27, 2006. The only “good cause” offered for this delay was that Respondent’s counsel
was working on another UDRP Response, which was due on January 25, 2006.
This Panel is well familiar with the effort required to prepare a response. If need be, a
response generally can be prepared and submitted in two or three days, if the exigencies
of the circumstances require quick action and the respondent has already gathered the
necessary information and evidence.3 That would be particularly true of an experienced
practitioner like Respondent’s counsel.4 There is no indication in the record in this case
that additional time was needed because Respondent needed more time to gather the
relevant evidence; rather, the only reason offered for the requested extension was that
Respondent’s counsel was working on another UDRP Response.
For these reasons alone, the Panel would find that this is not an exceptional case. The
record in this case, though, when considered along with the publicly-available records of
other cases, suggests that there may be a broader issue here. As noted above, paragraphs
5(d) and 10(c) of the Rules contemplate extensions only in “exceptional” cases. An
“exceptional” case, by its very nature, must be the exception, not the rule. This Panel is
aware, though, of other cases in which Respondent’s counsel has sought an extension or
filed submissions late, allegedly for exceptional reasons. See, e.g., Advance Magazine
Publishers Inc. v. Vanilla Limited/ Domain Finance Ltd./ Minakumari Periasany, WIPO
Case No. D2004-1068 (April 18, 2005). In an effort to quantify the extent of this practice,
the Panel has used the WIPO Search Tool (which is available at the WIPO website at
http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/search/index.html) to identify all WIPO cases in
which Respondent’s counsel represented a party. Of the 57 cases identified by the Search
Tool, the word “late” or “extension” appears in 37 decisions. The Panel has reviewed all
37 of these cases. In 10 of the cases, respondent requested an extension of time in which
to file a response. In 12 additional cases, respondent submitted a filing that was late – in
many instances after having also received an extension. Respondent’s counsel has thus
claimed the presence of “exceptional” circumstances in 22 of his 57 WIPO cases,
representing nearly 40 percent of these cases. These statistics suggest that Respondent’s
counsel treats requests for extensions and late filings as the norm rather than the
exception.
It is likely that, in at least some of these cases, the respondent genuinely had good cause
for being late or requesting an extension. Indeed, there are legitimate reasons for
requesting an extension or for having filed a response or a supplemental submission late.
See, e.g., Gaiam, Inc. v. Nielsen, NAF Claim No. 112469 (July 2, 2002) (accepting late
response filed twenty days after respondent received the complaint when the notification
to respondent was itself delayed); DK Bellevue, Inc. v. Landers, WIPO Case No. D2003-
0780 (November 24, 2003) (accepting late response filed on first business day after
weekend due date given respondent’s good faith belief that applicable deadline would be
extended to the next business day, consistent with US litigation practice); Alain-Martin
Pierret d/b/a Bordeaux West v. Sierra Tech. Group, LLC, NAF Claim No. 472135 (July
1, 2005) (accepting complainant’s late supplemental submission where respondent failed
to send response to complainant on a timely basis).
However, even if there was good cause in some subset of these cases, this pattern of
extension requests and late filings raises legitimate questions about the bona fides of
other requests. See, e.g., Trader Publishing Co. v. Krasny, WIPO Case No. DBIZ2002-
00138 (June 26, 2002) (respondent, represented by Respondent’s counsel, sought
extension because he claimed not to have received the Notification of the Complaint
“either because the Center did not send it via e-mail or because of the [r]espondent’s
substantial problem with computer viruses ‘during the month of May 2002’” and because
the hard-copy was “received by [r]espondent’s wife, who was busy with child care and
forgot to provide the package to the [r]espondent”; after extension request was denied,
respondent nevertheless filed response two weeks late; the Panel disregarded the late-
filed response); National Football League Players Association, Inc. v. Cayman
Trademark Trust, WIPO Case No. D2005-0234 (May 13, 2005) (Respondent’s counsel
sought 20-day extension because he would be unavailable for a nine-day period for
reasons unexplained in the decision; the Center, with complainant’s consent, granted a
10-day extension; respondent thereafter defaulted and sought an additional extension
because “it had been prejudiced by the [c]omplainant’s refusal to settle”; ultimately,
respondent filed no response); Real SB-Warenhaus Holding GmbH v. Anutarapun
Pugdechat, WIPO Case No. DBIZ2002-00017 (July 26, 2002) (Respondent’s counsel
requested a 20-day extension “owing to the exceptional number of STOP disputes in
which he was involved”); Puerto Rico Tourism Co. v. Virtual Countries, Inc., WIPO
Case No. D2002-1129 (April 14, 2003) (Respondent’s counsel requested a 30-day
extension “owing to the intervening holiday season”).
In some cases, panels faced with extension requests or late filings have commented upon
whether acceptance of the late submission would have affected the final decision on the
merits. Indeed, even in the 1099 Pro decision, the panel stated that its decision to
disregard the response did not affect the outcome. When panels indicate that a rejected
submission – whether a response, as in 1099 Pro, or a party’s supplemental submission,
e.g., Oki Data Americas, Inc. v. ASD, Inc., WIPO Case No. D2001-0903 (November 6,
2001) (refusing to accept complainant’s supplemental submission) – would not have
changed the outcome, that obiter dictum is not being disclosed for the purposes of
justifying the panel’s decision to disregard the submission. Rather, at least when this
Panel has made such an observation, it has been offered for the avoidance of doubt, and
to give the parties comfort that this procedural ruling did not affect the decision, and that
the decision also stands on the merits.
In this case, too, the Panel has reviewed the proposed Response and can affirm that, even
if it had been accepted, the Panel would have ruled the same way on the merits. It is
important to note, though, that the Panel’s decision to disregard the Response would
stand regardless of whether the Response might have affected the outcome. A panel
presented with a late or otherwise improper filing for which good cause has not been
shown should not normally be swayed by the fact that the outcome might have been
changed had the submission been accepted. Otherwise, if panels had to consider how a
late or improper submission might affect their decision, it would render meaningless the
inquiry into good cause. If the Rules are to be fairly applied, panels must be prepared to
enforce them regardless of their potential effect on the outcome.
For all these reasons, the Panel concludes that Respondent lacks good cause for its nine-
day delay. Accordingly, because this is not an exceptional case, the Panel shall not
consider the Response further in rendering its decision in this case.
4. Factual Background
Complainant states that it is in the business of two-way radio sales and repairs. It alleges
that it has been in the business since 1948, actively has used the MOBILCOM mark since
1980, and has since expanded its business to encompass paging, integrated security
systems, tower space rental, and cellular phone sales. Complainant’s website is located at
<mobilcom.net>.
Complainant alleges that Respondent lacks any rights or legitimate interests in respect of
the Domain Name. Complainant alleges that Respondent has never used the
MOBILCOM mark in its business, is not known by the name MOBILCOM, and that
Complainant has not authorized Respondent to use the MOBILCOM mark. Complainant
further argues that there is no evidence that Respondent is making a legitimate
noncommercial or fair use of the Domain Name.
Complainant also alleges that the Domain Name was registered and is being used in bad
faith. Complainant argues that Respondent’s sole purpose in registering the Domain
Name was to obtain a substantial sum through its sale. Complainant notes that
Respondent offered to sell the Domain Name for $35,000, which is consistent with
Respondent’s pattern of registering domain names that incorporate the marks of third
parties and offering them for sale. Complainant identifies two cases to support this
argument, Prisma Presse v. BuyDomains.com, WIPO Case No. D2001-1073 (October 22,
2001), and Echelon Corp. v. RN WebReg, a.k.a. Rarenames, LLC, WIPO Case No.
D2003-0790 (December 15, 2003).
The burden for Complainant under paragraph 4(a) of the Policy is to prove:
(i) that the Domain Name registered by Respondent is identical or confusingly similar to
a trademark or service mark in which Complainant has rights; and
(ii) that Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the Domain Name;
and
(iii) that the Domain Name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.
Turning to the evidence in this case, the Panel finds that Complainant has alleged
sufficient facts to establish common law trademark rights. Complainant avers that it has
used the MOBILCOM mark for more than twenty-five years in connection with its
paging services. That mark appears to be in active use on Complainant’s website, and the
Internet Wayback Machine (located at “www.archive.org”) shows that the MOBILCOM
mark has been used on Complainant’s website since at least 1998. Accordingly, on the
record submitted, the Panel finds that Complainant has established common law
trademark rights in the MOBILCOM mark.
In considering the similarity between the Domain Name and the trademark, it is well
accepted that the gTLD may be disregarded. See, e.g., VAT Holding AG v. vat.com,
WIPO Case No. D2000-0607 (August 22, 2000). When the .com gTLD is disregarded,
the Domain Name consists in its entirety of Complainant’s MOBILCOM trademark.
Accordingly, Complainant has carried its burden of proving that the Domain Name is
identical to a mark in which Complainant has rights.
Complainant has thus satisfied the requirements of paragraph 4(a)(i) of the Policy.
The website to which the Domain Name resolves is entitled “Tech Buyer.com” and
contains links to other sites that offer technology and Internet-related services that appear
to compete with those offered by Complainant. This type of use is neither a bona fide
offering of goods or services pursuant to paragraph 4(c)(i) of the Policy nor a legitimate
non-commercial or fair use pursuant to paragraph 4(c)(iii). Gerber Products Co. v.
LaPorte Holdings, WIPO Case No. D2005-1277 (February 8, 2006).
The Panel thus finds that Complainant has satisfied the requirements of paragraph 4(a)(ii)
of the Policy.
C. Registered and Used in Bad Faith
As noted above, Internet users who access the website associated with the Domain Name
are directed to a website that offers certain services that compete with those offered by
Complainant. Using a domain name “to redirect Internet users to websites that host links
to external websites, including websites of Complainant’s competitors,” is evidence of
bad faith. Royal Bank of Canada v. Chan, WIPO Case No. D2003-0031 (March 5, 2003).
In addition, Respondent offered the Domain Name for sale for $35,000, a sum that is far
in excess of the cost of registering a domain name. In the absence of a legitimate interest
by Respondent, the offer to sell the Domain Name for a price in excess of registration
costs supports an inference that Respondent registered the Domain Name in bad faith,
with the primary purpose of selling it in violation of paragraph 4(b)(i) of the Policy.
Echelon Corp. v. RN WebReg, a.k.a. Rarenames, LLC, WIPO Case No. D2003-0790
(December 15, 2003).
On the record of this case, the Panel believes it a fair inference that Respondent’s conduct
falls into the latter category. Respondent has been a respondent in a number of UDRP
proceedings; in the majority of those cases, the domain names have been transferred.
Moreover, the Domain Name in this case, MOBILCOM, is not a dictionary word, and
even a cursory search on search engines like Yahoo! and Google would have shown that
MOBILCOM is a trademark. The Panel thus concludes that Respondent has registered
this Domain Name to prevent Complainant from reflecting its mark in the
corresponding .com Domain Name, and that Respondent is engaged in a pattern of such
conduct.
Complainant has therefore satisfied the requirements of paragraph 4(a)(iii) of the Policy.
7. Decision
For all the foregoing reasons, in accordance with paragraphs 4(i) of the Policy and 15 of
the Rules, the Panel orders that the Domain Name <mobilcom.com> be transferred to
Complainant.
David H. Bernstein
Sole Panelist
1
In the 1099 Pro decision, the Panel included the following footnote at the end of the
above-quoted passage: “This ruling does not mean that Respondents who file late
responses have no recourse. First, even in the absence of a response, the Complainant still
must bear the burden of proof and panels have ruled for defaulting Respondents when
Complainants have failed to do so. E.g., Action Instruments, Inc. v. Technology
Associates, WIPO Case No. D2003-0024 (March 6, 2003); Land Sachsen-Anhalt v.
Skander Bouhaouala, WIPO Case No. D2002-0273 (July 8, 2002); Rodale, Inc. v.
Cambridge, WIPO Case No. DBIZ2002-00153 (June 28, 2002) (finding reverse domain
name hijacking); Shopping.com v. Internet Action Consulting, WIPO Case No. D2000-
0439 (July 28, 2000); EAuto, L.L.C. v. EAuto Parts, WIPO Case No. D2000-0096
(April 9, 2000). Second, Respondents always have the ability to seek judicial review of a
decision with which they disagree. Paragraph 4(k) of the Policy.”