Vivendi Universal v. GO247.com, Inc.; Jay David Sallen

WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center

ADMINISTRATIVE PANEL DECISION

Vivendi Universal v. Mr. Jay David Sallen and GO247.COM,INC.

Case No. D2001-1121

1. The Parties

The Complainant is Vivendi Universal, a French corporation headquartered in

Paris, France, represented by Jeffrey D. Neuberger, Esq. and Nancy J. Mertzel,

Esq. of Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner LLP of New York, U.S.A.

The Respondents are Mr. Jay David Sallen and GO247.COM, INC., both of 7 Fiske

Terrace, Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.A. and both represented by Mr. Sallen.

2. The Domain Name and Registrar

The disputed domain name is <vivendiuniversalsucks.com>.

The Registrar is Tucows, Inc., of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

3. Procedural History

This is an administrative proceeding pursuant to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute

Resolution Policy ("the Policy") adopted by the Internet Corporation

for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") on August 26, 1999, the Rules

for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, approved by ICANN on October

24, 1999, ("the Rules") and the Supplemental Rules for Uniform Domain

Name Dispute Resolution Policy ("the Supplemental Rules") of the WIPO

Arbitration and Mediation Center ("the Center").

The Complaint was received by the Center by email on September 13, 2001, and

in hardcopy on September 19, 2001. The Complaint was acknowledged on September 17, 2001.

That day registration details were sought from the Registrar. On September 20,

2001, the Registrar confirmed that the disputed domain name is registered in

the name of GO247.COM,INC. at the address mentioned above and that the Policy

applies to the disputed domain name by operation of section 7 of the Registration

Agreement.

On September 21, 2001, the Center satisfied itself that the Complaint complied

with all formal requirements (including payment of the prescribed fee) and that

day formally dispatched copies of the Complaint by post/courier (with enclosures)

to the Respondents at the address as recorded with the Registrar and by email

(without attachments). The Center also sent copies of the material by the same

methods to alternative mail and e-mail addresses for the Respondents provided

by the Complainant and to the Respondents’ Administrative, Billing and Technical

Contacts at the addresses recorded by the Registrar. The Center included with

the material dispatched to the Respondents and to those contacts a letter dated

September 21, 2001, containing notification of the commencement of this administrative

proceeding, with copies (of the Complaint without attachments) to the Complainant,

the Registrar and ICANN.

The last day specified by the Center for a Response was October 11, 2001. A

Response was filed on October 8, 2001, by email and on October 16, 2001, in

hard copy.

The Complainant elected to have the case decided by a three-member Administrative

Panel ("the Panel") and on October 30, 2001, the Center notified the

parties of the appointment of the undersigned as panelists, each panelist having

submitted a Statement of Acceptance and Declaration of Impartiality and Independence.

On October 30, 2001, the Center transmitted the case file to the Panel and notified

the parties of the projected decision date of November 13, 2001.

The Panel is satisfied that the Complaint was filed in accordance with the

requirements of the Rules and Supplemental Rules; payment was properly made;

the Panel agrees with the Center’s assessment concerning the Complaint’s compliance

with the formal requirements; the Center discharged its responsibility under

paragraph 2(a) of the Rules to employ reasonably available means calculated

to achieve actual notice to the Respondents of the Complaint; the Response was

filed within the time specified in the Rules and the Panel was properly constituted.

The language of the proceedings was English, being the language of the Registration

Agreement.

4. Factual Background

The Complainant is a global communications company with businesses in music,

the Internet, pay TV, telecommunications, multimedia, publishing and film. It

was formed amid much publicity by the US$100 billion three-way merger in December

2000, of Vivendi SA (formerly Compagnie Générale des Eaux),

the Seagram Company Ltd. (owner of the Universal Music Group and Universal Studios)

and Canal + (the European pay television group). (Complaint, Ex. 5).

The Complainant (by itself or through a subsidiary) owns the registered trademarks

VIVENDI, UNIVERSAL and VIVENDI UNIVERSAL (Complaint, Ex. 6, Ex. 7 and Ex. 8).

The mark VIVENDI has been used by the Complainant since at least 1998. The mark

UNIVERSAL has been used by the Complainant's entertainment company subsidiary,

Universal City Studios, Inc., for the greater part of the 20th century. The

mark VIVENDI UNIVERSAL has been used since at least June 2000, and was registered

in France on December 22, 2000. (Complaint, Ex. 7).

The disputed domain name was registered by the Respondent GO247.COM, INC. on

February 27, 2001. The Respondent Mr. Sallen is the chief executive officer,

secretary and managing director of that company and the administrative contact

for the disputed domain name. On July 26, 2001, the Complainant sent to the

Respondents a cease and desist letter and on August 6, 2001, a follow-up letter.

The only response was:

"in due time. please remember that -- one of us is not making any money off

of this process and therefore must attend to the business of making a living".

As at the date of the cease and desist letter, the Respondents had made no

use of the disputed domain name, which led to a page stating that the site was

unavailable.

Following receipt by the Respondents of the cease and desist letter, Mr. Sallen

tried without success on August 12, 2001, to change the servers on the disputed

domain name (Response, Ex. 6) and again on August 16, 2001, stating "time

is of the essence" (ibid). Eventually, the disputed domain name

was directed to the page <www.geektivism.com/vivendi.php> on the website

<www.geektivism.com> owned by a Mr. Miguel C. Danielson of Cambridge,

Massachusetts, U.S.A., who declared (Response, Ex.7) that the page is a legitimate

portion of his site, directed at criticizing the practices of the Complainant;

that Mr. Danielson had allowed Mr. Sallen to direct the disputed domain name

to that page and that "no commercial purpose is allowed or intended

for such use" The page includes remarks concerning the current dispute.

5. Parties’ Contentions

A. Complainant

The Complainant requests the Panel to direct that <vivendiuniversalsucks.com>

be transferred to the Complainant and it invokes the following legal grounds

as a basis for the relief sought:

Identity or confusing similarity

The disputed domain name is identical or confusingly similar to the Complainant’s

trademarks VIVENDI, UNIVERSAL and VIVENDI UNIVERSAL. The mere addition of the

common/generic terms "sucks" and ".com" to the VIVENDI UNIVERSAL

Mark does not have the effect of creating a new or different mark in which the

Respondents have rights. See Bloomberg L.P. v. Secaucus Group, Case No.

FA0104000097077 (National Arbitration Forum June 7, 2001) (stating that the

addition of the terms "sucks" and ".com" to the Bloomberg

mark does not have the effect of escaping confusing similarity).

Legitimacy

The Respondents have no legitimate interests in the disputed domain name.

Bad faith

The disputed domain name was registered and is being used in bad faith.

B. The Respondents

Identity or confusing similarity

The overwhelming majority of the "sucks" cases support the contention that

the disputed domain name is not confusingly similar to the Complainant's trademark.

Legitimacy

The disputed domain name was registered for the legitimate and good faith purpose

of creating a site critical of the Complainant's business practices, since shareholders

and others have criticized the merger by which the Complainant was created (Response

Ex. 1,2 and 3).

The Respondents made a significant good faith effort to use the domain name

as quickly as possible but were unable to do so for a significant period due

to the registrar's failure to acknowledge the Respondent's registration in its

database (Response Ex. 6).

Good Faith

The purpose of the Respondent's registration of the disputed domain name was

to create a site for the free expression of criticism of Complainant's business

practices.

6. Discussion and Findings

Under paragraph 15(a) of the Rules, the Panel must decide this Complaint on

the basis of the statements and documents submitted and in accordance with the

Policy, the Rules and any rules and principles of law that it deems applicable.

To qualify for cancellation or transfer, a Complainant must prove each element

of paragraph 4(a) of the Policy, namely:

(i) the disputed domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark

or service mark in which the Complainant has rights; and

(ii) the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the

domain name; and

(iii) the disputed domain name has been registered and is being used in bad

faith.

Identity or confusing similarity

Essential or virtual identity is sufficient for the purposes of the Policy:

see The Stanley Works and Stanley Logistics, Inc v. Camp Creek. Co., Inc.

(WIPO Case No. D2000-0113), Toyota

Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha d/b/a Toyota Motor Corporation v. S&S Enterprises

Ltd. (WIPO Case No. D2000-0802) and

Nokia Corporation v. Nokiagirls.com a.k.a IBCC (WIPO

Case No. D2000-0102).

The Panel finds the disputed domain name is not identical to any of the Complainant’s

trademarks.

To ascertain the presence of confusing similarity, several ICANN panels have

adopted principles of United States trademark law and weighed a number of factors.

See Diageo v. Zuccarini (WIPO Case

No. D2000-0996) (holding that "sucks" domain names are not immune

from scrutiny as being confusingly similar and that each case must be considered

in light of the facts presented). The panels in Diageo and Wal-Mart

Stores, Inc. v. Walsucks (WIPO Case No.

D2000-0477) both considered the likelihood of confusion factors set forth

by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in AMF v Sleekcraft

Boats, 599 F.2d 341 (9th Cir. 1979) [1].

The learned panelist in Diageo applied the Sleekcraft factors

with manifest hesitation as to whether this approach is appropriate under the

Policy. In the course of his analysis, he exposed several instances in which

the Sleekcraft factors for determining confusing similarity between a

trademark and another trademark are inappropriate for determining confusing

similarity between a trademark and a domain name.

This Panel prefers the view that the test of confusing similarity under the

Policy, unlike trademark infringement or unfair competition cases, is usually

confined to a consideration of the disputed domain name and the trademark: Wal-Mart

Stores, Inc. v. Richard MacLeod (WIPO

Case No. D2000-0662); Cimcities, LLC v. John Zuccarini d/b/a Cupcake

Patrol (WIPO Case No. D2001-0491); AltaVista

Company v. S.M.A., Inc. (WIPO Case No.

D2000-0927); Gateway, Inc. v. Pixelera.com, Inc (formerly Gateway Media

Productions, Inc.) (WIPO Case No. D2000-0109);

America Online Inc. v. Anson Chan (WIPO Case

No. D2001-0004) and Playboy Enterprises International, Inc. v. Federico

Concas, a.k.a John Smith, a.k.a. Orf3vsa (WIPO

Case No. D2001-0745).

Here, the disputed domain name incorporates, as its most prominent feature,

the whole of each of the Complainant’s trademarks VIVENDI, UNIVERSAL and VIVENDI

UNIVERSAL together with the historically descriptive and, more recently, sometimes

pejorative word SUCKS. What is the effect of that word on the otherwise immediate

association with the Complainant likely to be aroused in the public mind by

the words VIVENDI UNIVERSAL?

There is an unresolved disagreement between panels and, as here, amongst panelists,

as to whether a <[trademark]sucks.com> domain name can ever be confusingly

similar to the trademark to which the word sucks is appended. Panels which have

found confusing similarity include Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Walsucks

(WIPO Case No. D2000-0477); Direct

Line Group Ltd. v. Purge I.T. (WIPO Case

No. D2000-0583); Dixons Group PLC v. Purge I.T. (WIPO

Case No. D2000-0584); Freeserve PLC v. Purge I.T. (WIPO

Case No. D2000-0585); National Westminster Bank PLC v. Purge I.T.

(WIPO Case No. D2000-0636); Standard

Chartered PLC v. Purge I.T.,(WIPO Case

No. D2000-0681); Cabela v. Cupcake Patrol, NAF Case No. FA95080 (August

29, 2001); Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. MacLeod (WIPO

Case No. D2000-0662); Diageo v. Zuccarini (WIPO

Case No. D2000-0996); Société Accor v. M. Philippe Hartmann

(WIPO Case No. D2001-0007); ADT Services AG

v. ADT Sucks.com (WIPO Case No. D2001-0213);

and Bloomberg L.P. v. Secaucus Group, Case No. FA0104000097077 (National

Arbitration Forum June 7, 2001).

The opposite view has essentially espoused a per se rule that a domain

name created by the mere addition of "sucks" and the generic top level

domain can never be confusingly similar to the complainant’s trademark. In Wal-Mart

v. wallmartcanadasucks.com (WIPO Case

No. D2000-1104), the panelist concluded:

"I do not see how a domain name including "sucks" ever can

be confusingly similar to a trademark to which "sucks" is appended."

(p. 10).

Similarly, the panel in Lockheed Martin v. Dan Parisi (WIPO

Case No. D2000-1015) stated:

"Both common sense and a reading of the plain language of the Policy

support the view that a domain name combining a trademark with the word "sucks"

or other language clearly indicating that the domain name is not affiliated

with the trademark owner cannot be considered confusingly similar to the trademark."

(p. 4).

A similar approach was taken in the recent case of America Online v. Johnathan

Investments, Inc., and AOLLNEWS.COM (WIPO Case

No. D2001-0918) in finding the domain name <fucknetscape.com> is not

identical or confusingly similar to the trademark NETSCAPE.

This Panel, by a majority, is of the view that the addition of the word "sucks"

to a well-known trademark is not always likely to be taken as "language

clearly indicating that the domain name is not affiliated with the trademark

owner". Two examples of the use of the word "sucks" which

do not so indicate, even to English speakers, are:

(1) the use of the words "sucks" purely descriptively, as in the advertising

slogan "Nothing sucks like Electrolux" (If there were a website at <electroluxsucks.com>,

it would be unlikely to be taken as unaffiliated with the company Electrolux);

and

(2) the website of the band Primus, < primussucks.com>, so named after

the album Suck on This (1990). (The website of the band's lead singer, Les Claypool,

at <lesclaypool.com>, has a link to the <primussucks.com> website).

More importantly, it must be borne in mind that not all Internet users speak

English as their mother tongue. In Société Accor v. M. Philippe

Hartmann (WIPO Case No. D2001-0007) the panel

said:

«…la Commission estime que dans le cas d’un public non anglophone, voire anglophone,

mais peu habitué aux expressions familières ou argotiques, bref,

d’un public ignorant la signification du mot "sucks" en soi ou pour

désigner des sites de "cyberprotestation", la formule "accorsucks"

ne signifie rien de plus que l’adjonction à la marque connue "accor"

d’un suffixe dénué de sens particulier et, donc est inapte à

constituer un "tout indivisible" modifiant globalement la perception

de la marque "accor" constituant les deux premières syllabes

de la séquence "accorsucks".

Cette situation a déjà été envisagée

dans de précédentes Décisions. Par exemple, la Décision

OMPI D2000-0636, National Westminster

Bank, a indiqué :

"Given the apparent mushrooming of complaints sites identified by reference

to the target’s name, can it be said that the registration would be recognised

as an address plainly dissociated from the Complainant? In the Panel’s opinion,

this is by no means necessarily so. The first and immediately striking element

in the Domain Name is the Complainant’s name. Adoption of it in the Domain Name

is inherently likely to lead some people to believe that the Complainant is

connected with it. Some will treat the additional "sucks" as a pejorative

exclamation and therefore dissociate it after all from the Complainant; but

equally others may be unable to give it any definite meaning and will be confused

about the potential association with the Complainant".

De même, la Décision OMPI

D2000-0996, Diageo plc, a relevé :

"As the Internet extends far beyond the Anglophone world, a more difficult

question arises as to whether non-English speaking users of the Internet would

be confused into believing that such a site is owned and / or controlled by

the Complainant. Because the word ‘sucks’ is a slang word with which all English

speakers may not be familiar, this Administrative Panel concludes that there

may well be circumstances where Internet users are not aware of the abusive

connotations of the word and consequently associate the domain name with the

owner of the trademark".

Dans ces conditions, la Commission estime que le public pourra penser que le

nom de domaine en litige réfère à un service en relation

avec le Requérant et, dès lors, le nom de domaine en cause sera

semblable au point de prêter à confusion, à une marque sur

laquelle le Requérant a des droits.

Ayant la conviction que le public en général et les internautes

en particulier, n’étant pas tous anglophones et/ou avertis du sens du

terme "sucks" dans le monde d’Internet, auront, pour certains, plutôt

le sentiment que "sucks" est un ajout banal et obscur à la

marque "accor" passablement connue et que, dès lors, <accorsucks.com>

réfère à un service du Groupe Accor, la commission constate

que l’exigence du paragraphe 4 (a), (i) des Principes directeurs est satisfaite. »

By the same reasoning, being satisfied that certain members of the public in

general and "Internauts" in particular, not being English speakers

and/or aware of the meaning of the word "sucks" in the Internet world,

would be likely to understand "sucks" as a banal and obscure addition

to the reasonably well-known mark VIVENDI UNIVERSAL and that, accordingly, <vivendiuniversalsucks.com>

refers to goods or services provided by the Complainant, this Panel, by majority,

finds the requirements of paragraph 4(a)(i) of the Policy to have been met.

The Complainant has established this element.

Illegitimacy

The Complainant has not authorized the Respondents to use any of its trademarks

nor to register the disputed domain name. The Respondents are not known by the

disputed domain name. They must have been aware of the Complainant’s trademarks

before registering the disputed domain name because their stated purpose was

to criticize the Complainant.

It is common ground that no use was made of the disputed domain name between

the date of registration, February 27, 2001, and the date when notice of the

dispute was given to the Respondents by way of "cease and desist" letter on

July 26, 2001. Nor have the Respondents demonstrated any preparations to use

the disputed domain name during this period. Following receipt of that letter,

the Respondents attempted with some urgency ("time is of the essence")

to make changes to the servers and directed the disputed domain name to the

<geektivism.com> website, where the relevant page, <www.geektivism.com/vivendi.php>,

is devoted to criticism of the Complainant.

In Corinthians Licenciamentos Ltda. v. David Sallen, Sallen Enterprises

and J.D.Sallen Enterprises (WIPO Case

No. D2000-0461), the posting of scripture on a website after notice of dispute

by way of a "cease and desist" letter was found not to demonstrate a legitimate

interest under either paragraphs 4(c)(i) or 4(c)(iii) of the Policy.

Here the Panel is mindful that the Respondents have had some experience in

defending administrative proceedings under the Policy and are very familiar

with it. The Panel infers from the urgency with which the Respondents sought

to create a website on which to post criticism of the Complainants, following

receipt of the "cease and desist" letter, that their current, supposedly

"free speech" use of the disputed domain name is contrived to prevent

the Complainant from succeeding in these proceedings (which were foreshadowed

in the "cease and desist" letter) and is therefore neither legitimate

nor fair. Thus they cannot rely upon paragraph 4 (c)(iii) of the Policy. (See

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Walsucks & Walmarket Puerto Rico (WIPO

Case No. D2000-0477), holding the decision was not an anti-free speech precedent

because the site was not a legitimate free speech site).

Bearing in mind that the Panel has found that non-English speaking Internet

users would be likely to attach no significance to the appended word "sucks"

and would therefore regard the disputed domain name as conveying an association

with the Complainant, the "free speech" argument of the Respondent

is answered by the same reasoning as was adopted in Monty & Pat Roberts,

Inc., v. J. Bartell (WIPO Case No. D2000-0300)

concerning the domain name < montyroberts.org>:

"[T]he right to express one’s views is not the same as the right to use

another’s name to identify one’s self as the source of those views. One may

be perfectly free to express his or her views about the quality or characteristics

of the reporting of the New York Times or Time Magazine. That does not, however,

translate into a right to identify one’s self as the New York Times or Time

Magazine".

The Panel finds the Complainant has established this element. The Respondents

have no rights or legitimate interest in the disputed domain name.

Bad faith registration and use

The circumstances of this case do not fit easily into any of the sub-paragraphs

of paragraph 4 (b) of the Policy. That paragraph however, is expressly not limited

to those specified circumstances. A finding of bad faith may be made where the

Respondent "knew or should have known" of the registration and use

of the trademark prior to registering the domain name: SportSoft Golf, Inc.

v. Hale Irwin’s Golfers’ Passport (NAF Case No. FA0094956). Likewise Marriott

International, Inc. v. John Marriot (NAF Case No. FA0094737); 163972

Canada Inc. v. Sandro Ursino (DeC Case No. AF-0211) and Centeon L.L.C./Aventis

Behring L.L.C. v. Ebiotech.com (NAF Case No. FA0095037).

As already mentioned, the Respondents did have prior knowledge of the VIVENDI

UNIVERSAL mark and they deliberately chose to register a domain name which incorporated

that mark in its entirety. In so doing, they might have thought that the word

"sucks" would serve to distinguish the disputed domain name from the mark. However,

in this regard they were mistaken, at least so far as non-English speakers are

concerned, and they must bear the consequences of the risk they took.

In Cruzeiro Licenciamentos Ltda. v. David Sallen, Sallen Enterprises and

J.D.Sallen Enterprises (WIPO Case No.

D2000-0715), one factor held by the panel as tilting the inference against

the Respondent and assisting the Complainant in discharging the onus of proof

of bad faith was:

"mere passive holding of a domain name can qualify as bad faith if the domain

name owner's conduct creates the impression that the name is for sale."

The Panel finds that such an impression is created by Mr. Sallen's reply to

the Complainant's counsel's request of August 6, 2001, for a response to the

"cease and desist" letter of July 26, 2001:

"in time. please remember -- one of us is not making any money off

of this process and therefore must attend to the business of making a living."

The speed with which the Respondents were able to direct Internet users reaching

the disputed domain name to a site with "free speech" content following

receipt of the "cease and desist" letter undermines their argument that five

months is a perfectly reasonable time within which any legitimate domain name

registrant might be expected to establish a website.

The Panel finds that the Respondents have acted in bad faith both in registration

and use of the disputed domain name.

The Complainant has established this element.

7. Decision

Pursuant to paragraphs 4(i) of the Policy and 15 of the Rules, the Panel directs

that the domain name <vivendiuniversalsucks.com> be transferred to the

Complainant.

Alan L. Limbury

Presiding Panelist

Sir Ian Barker

Panelist

Dated: November 7, 2001

Dissent

I respectfully dissent from the decision of the majority of the Panel.

As the majority notes, the domain name at issue is clearly not identical to

any of the Complainant's trademarks. The case therefore turns on the question

whether a domain name that appends the pejorative term "sucks" to a trademark

may be confusingly similar to that trademark. Numerous other UDRP panels have

addressed this question with conflicting results, but many panels have held

-- correctly, in my view -- that "sucks" domain names are not or cannot be confusingly

similar. See Lockheed Martin Corp. v. Parisi (WIPO

Case No. D2000-1015) (2-1 decision) (<lockheedsucks.com> and <lockheedmartinsucks.com>);

McLane Co. v. Craig (WIPO Case No.

D2000-1455) (<mclanenortheastsucks.com>); Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

v. Wallmartcanadasucks.com (WIPO Case

No. D2000-1104) (<wallmartcanadasucks.com>); see also Bloomberg

L.P. v. Secaucus Group, No. FA97077 (NAF June 7, 2001) (Sorkin, dissenting)

(<michaelbloombergsucks.com>); cf. America Online, Inc. v. Johuathan

Investments, Inc.(WIPO Case No. D2001-0918)

(holding that <fucknetscape.com> is not confusingly similar to NETSCAPE

trademark); E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. ITC, No. FA96219 (NAF

February 20, 2001) (3-0 decision) (finding <lycralovers.com>

confusingly similar to complainant's LYCRA trademark, contrasting "lovers" with

"sucks," "a particularly distinguishing word when added to a trademark ... that

uniquely indicates that it is unaffiliated with the mark owner"); Robo Enterprises,

Inc. v. Daringer, No. FA96375 (NAF January 15, 2001) (finding <roboenterprises-litigation.com>

confusingly similar to complainant's ROBO ENTERPRISES mark, contrasting "litigation"

with "sucks" and similar terms that clearly indicate that the domain name is

not associated with or authorized by the trademark owner).

As the majority suggests, there may well be some narrow categories of trademarks

for which the word "sucks" does not clearly disassociate a domain name from

the trademark, and therefore it may be unwise to adopt a per se rule

holding that "sucks" domain names can never be found confusingly similar to

the trademarks they contain. But the Complainant in this proceeding does not

claim to be known as a manufacturer of vacuum cleaners or suction pumps, or

as a self-deprecating alternative rock band, or a test laboratory for beverage

straws, or a porn star, a black hole, or any other sort of entity that people

are likely to associate with sucking. And even if the Complainant did fall within

one of these categories, it would still bear the burden of proving a likelihood

of confusion.

It is true that persons who are not fluent in English (and those who are unfamiliar

with colloquial English) may not recognize the word "sucks" or the pejorative

sense in which it is used here. The Complainant is a large multinational corporation,

and its marks certainly must be known to some such persons. On the other hand,

the word "sucks" is used quite frequently within domain names (and elsewhere)

to criticize, disparage, and ridicule -- probably more frequently than any other

single word in any language. The mere fact that some people may not fully comprehend

the colloquial meaning of "sucks" is thus immaterial, at least absent evidence

that many people understand the word to mean something that, when combined with

the Complainant's trademark, is confusingly similar to the trademark.

I would find that the domain name <vivendiuniversalsucks.com> is neither

identical nor confusingly similar to the trademark VIVENDI UNIVERSAL, and would

dismiss the complaint on this basis without reaching the questions of legitimacy

and bad faith.

David E. Sorkin

Panelist

Footnotes:

1. In Sleekcraft, the Court of Appeals

for the Ninth Circuit enumerated eight factors to be weighed on the question

of likelihood of confusion between trademarks: (1) strength of the mark; (2)

proximity of the goods; (3) similarity of the marks; (4) evidence of actual

confusion; (5) marketing channels used; (6) type of goods and the degree of

care likely to be exercised by the purchaser; (7) defendant's intent in selecting

the mark; and (8) likelihood of expansion of the product lines.

More cases by this complainant

• Vivendi Universal — D2001-0611 · Terminated