GENEVA — The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has ruled in favor of Kink.com in a case against a copycat website using an infringing domain.
Cybernet Entertainment, which operates Kink.com and Kinkstore.com, filed a complaint in August with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center about the domain thebdsmkink.com.
According to the WIPO administrative panel’s ruling in the case, a U.S. registrant listed as “karsony karsony” used the “confusingly similar” domain name to trade on Kink.com’s reputation. The impersonating site, which was registered in March, not only offered BDSM products comparable to those offered on Kink sites under its trademark, but also displayed the Kink graphic logo and even duplicated the “About Us” section from the legitimate Kink websites.
In its complaint, Cybernet Entertainment contended that the copycat site displayed “product imagery, product descriptions, product presentation, corporate-history information and audiovisual materials” copied from Kink’s official online presence.
The WIPO review found that the respondent registered the disputed domain name in bad faith “to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users by creating a likelihood of confusion with Complainant’s mark.”
The registrant failed to respond to WIPO inquiries about the matter during the investigation. As a result, the panel ordered the disputed domain to be transferred to Cybernet Entertainment.
