GENEVA — The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has ruled in favor of adult brand Sportsheets in a case against a copycat website using an infringing domain.
Intora Inc., which operates Sportsheets, filed a complaint in August with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center about the domain sportsheets.net.
According to the WIPO administrative panel’s ruling in the case, a U.S. registrant listed as Theresa W. Chavez used the “confusingly similar” domain name to trade on Sportsheets’ reputation. The impersonating site, which was registered in January, had a look and feel “similar to that of Complainant’s official website,” including the Sportsheets logo and statements similar to those used on the brand’s official website, Sportsheets.com. Visitors clicking on the site’s links were directed to an Amazon storefront and other retailer sites.
That website content was subsequently removed, after which the website was parked.
In its complaint, Intora contended that the copycat site was meant to pass off as the official site, and showed “intentional and willful copying and infringement” of Sportsheets’ trademarks and intellectual property rights.
The WIPO review found that the respondent registered the disputed domain name in bad faith “to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to its website, by creating a likelihood of confusion with Complainant’s SPORTSHEETS 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 Intora.
