GENEVA — The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has ruled in favor of Flirt4Free in a case against a copycat website using an infringing domain.
VS Media, Inc., which operates adult livestreaming platform Flirt4Free, filed a complaint in October with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center about the domain flirt4-free.com.
According to the WIPO administrative panel’s ruling in the case, a registrant listed as Antonin Stoeckel of France used the “confusingly similar” domain name, which differed only by adding a hyphen, to trade on Flirt4Free’s reputation. The impersonating site, which was registered in June, resolved to a website which used “the Flirt4Free name, a similar logo and similar background colors, as well as offering identical services, including chat services with male, female and transgender models.”
In its complaint, VS Media contended that the copycat site “intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, online users by creating a likelihood of confusion” with Flirt4Free.
According to the WIPO, the registrant of the copycat domain expressed willingness to transfer the disputed domain name, but asked for “a reasonable contribution towards documented expenses incurred in connection with the registration and maintenance of the disputed domain name.”
The WIPO review found that the respondent had “clearly attempted to impersonate” Flirt4Free, and had registered the disputed domain name in bad faith. As a result, the panel ordered the disputed domain to be transferred to VS Media.
