Singapore Airlines Limited recently recovered various domain names through WIPO's internet domain name process. The domain names included :
- singaporeairlines.org
- singaporeair.net
- singaporeair.org
- singaporeairlines.com
No response was filed by any of the respondents in these cases.
"singaporeairlines.org", "singaporeair.net" and "singaporeair.org" were registered by an American discount travel agency while "singaporeairlines.com" was registered by a Spanish business entity.
The Panels in these disputes noted that Singapore Airline is a leading international air carrier status which has rights to the mark "Singapore Airlines" throughout the world, including the United States. It was also noted that Singapore Airline had also registered "singaporeair" as a domain name at the ".com" level under various ccTLDs (eg, "singaporeair.com.sg", "singaporeair.com.de").
As Singapore Airline uses the "Singapore Airlines" mark and the expression "Singapore Air" to promote and market its aviation services worldwide through various marketing channels, including websites, it could claim common law trade mark rights for "singaporeair"
The Panel took the view that the "Singapore Airlines" mark is distinctive and universally associated with its airline services and decided that the domain names were identical or confusingly similar to Singapore Airlines' trade mark. The fact that "singaporeair.net" and "singaporeair.org" omitted the letters "lines" did not diminish the reference to an airline closely connected with Singapore – the universally-known Singapore Airlines.
It was further held that the registrants had no legitimate interests in the domain names and that the domain names were being used in bad faith. They were so obviously connected with a well-known airline that their very use by an unconnected person suggested opportunistic bad faith.
The Panel went so far as to state that it was "hard to imagine a more blatant exercise in cybersquatting". In relation to the discount travel agent, the nature of its business created an almost irrefutable inference of bad faith.
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