PRAGUE — An arbitrator on Friday awarded Lovehoney Group Ltd. a domain name that had been created and used to sell sex toys and novelties using the U.K.-based adult retailer’s actual name along with the “.online” generic top-level domain name extension.
Lovehoney — the largest sex toy retailer in the U.K. and rapidly expanding internationally as a retailer, manufacturer and distributor — recently filed a complaint with the Czech Arbitration Court over the Lovehoney.online domain name, which is not affiliated with the company.
Based in Bath, U.K. and founded in 2002, Lovehoney operates Lovehoney.com and Lovehoney.co.uk online stores. In January, the company was awarded Online Retailer of the Year (Pleasure Products) at the 2017 XBIZ Awards.
Lovehoney, the complainant in the case, said that Lovehoney.online was created to attract internet users to the bogus website where it is used the "Lovehoney" logo and its slogan, “the sexual happiness people,” prominently on the top left hand side of the page.
The respondent in the case who registered the domain name in April and purportedly operated the site is known as Li Wei Wei. That individual or company did not reply to cybersquatting claims made in the case by Lovehoney.
Lovehoney.online operates as a full retail sex toy and novelty store, offering a wide array of products. A whois check notes that the Lovehoney.online registrant’s address is in Shaanxi, China.
“The complainant observes that the respondent is not authorized to use the ‘Lovehoney’ trademarks, and that there is no relationship between the complainant and the respondent,” an arbitrator wrote in the decision to transfer the domain name to the U.K. retailer.
“Moreover, the complainant submits that the use of the word ‘Lovehoney’ in the disputed domain name and also on multiple occasions in the website text further creates the impression that there is some official or authorized link with the complainant.”
The arbitrator deciding the case ruled that the Lovehoney.online domain name was confusingly similar to Lovehoney’s trademark, that the respondent had no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the disputed domain name, and that the domain name was registered and being used in bad faith.
The arbitrator ordered the domain name transferred to Lovehoney Group Ltd.
