LAS VEGAS — Live cam giant Chaturbate recently was successful in a cybersquatting claim against the registered operator of the domain Chaturbate-Chat.com.
The site for quite some time has been redirecting users to a competing cam site.
An arbitrator with WIPO last week ordered the domain Chaturbate-Chat.com transferred to Chaturbate.
The operator of the domain Chaturbate-Chat.com registered the domain in October 2013 under a private domain service and did not respond to the cybersquatting claim, which was filed in May.
Chaturbate told the arbitrator handling the cybersquatting claim, Tobias Malte Müller, that it has trademarks in the U.S. for “Chaturbate” and “Chaturbate.com” dating back four years.
As a result, Müller ordered the domain name transferred after finding that Chaturbate-Chat.com is identical or confusingly similar to a “Chaturbate” trademark, that the operator of Chaturbate-Chat.com did not have any legitimate rights or interests in the domain name, and that the operator registered and used the site as an adult portal in bad faith.
“The respondent is using the disputed domain name to offer the exact same services that the complainant offers under the ‘Chaturbate’ mark,” the arbitrator ruled. “Specifically, the disputed domain name is hosting the site BongaCams, which is one of the complainant's direct competitors.”
Randazza Legal Group handled the case for Chaturbate.
"Cybersquatting on cam sites is very much on the rise," attorney Marc Randazza told XBIZ. "Chaturbate has a strong brand, and it intends to keep it that way."