WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center

ADMINISTRATIVE PANEL DECISION

AltaVista Company v. Saeid Yomtobian

Case No. D2000-0937

1. The Parties

The Complainant is AltaVista Company ("AltaVista"), a Delaware corporation having its principal place of business in Palo Alto, California.

The Respondent is Saeid Yomtobian, P.O. Box 260920, Encino, CA, 91426-0920.

2. The Domain Name and Registrar

The domain names at issue are and . The domain names are registered with Council of Registrars.

3. Procedural Background

Complainant filed its Complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center (the "Center") on August 3, 2000, by email and by August 7, 2000 in hard copy. On August 24, 2000, the Center notified Complainant that its complaint was deficient. On August 29, 2000, the Center received in hard copy Complainant�s amendment to the Complaint, resolving the deficiency, and on that day, the Center formally commenced this proceeding and notified Respondent that its Response would be due by September 17, 2000. The notification was sent to Respondent by courier and email; SwissPost has confirmed that the courier package was delivered to Respondent at his address, and the email to syomtobian@ was transferred without receipt of any "undeliverable" notices. Respondent did not file a response by the due date.

Complainant elected a single-member Panel. On October 2, 2000, after clearing for potential conflicts, the Center appointed David H. Bernstein as the Panelist, and set October 17, 2000 as the deadline for issuance of a decision.

4. Factual Background

Because there is no response, the following facts are taken from the complaint and are accepted as true. Talk City Inc. v. Michael Robertson, Case No. D2000-0009 (WIPO, February 29, 2000) at � 5(d).

Complainant is a provider of Internet search, information, e-commerce, and portal services. It has one of the World Wide Web�s largest search indexes and responds to more than 40 million search queries each day. It has trademark rights in ALTAVISTA worldwide, including registrations in the United States for use of the mark to identify computer services, computer software, printed matter, and educational services. Complainant has operated its search site at since December 1995, and received its first United States registration, for computer services, in March 1997.

The domain names at issue were registered on May 18, 1997.

On July 17, 2000, Complainant sent a letter by overnight mail to Respondent, demanding that it cease and desist from using the domain names at issue. On July 26, 2000, Respondent telephoned Complainant�s authorized representatives, and sent an email outlining his costs associated with the domain names at issue, and offered to transfer ownership of them for $475.00.

5. Complainant�s Allegations

Complainant alleges that it has valid rights in the ALTAVISTA mark, that it has invested millions of dollars in publicizing the mark, and that it has used the mark widely to ensure automatic identification in the minds of users with excellence in Internet search, information, e-c