ARBITRATION AND MEDIATION CENTER ADMINISTRATIVE PANEL DECISION VFS Global Services Pvt. Ltd. v. Privacy service provided by Withheld for Privacy ehf/ Apostle King Case No. D2022-2315 1. The Parties The Complainant is VFS Global Services Pvt. Ltd., India, represented by Aditya & Associates, India. The Respondent is Privacy service provided by Withheld for Privacy ehf / Apostle King, Indonesia. 2. The Domain Name and Registrar The disputed domain name ("Domain Name") is registered with NameCheap, Inc. (the "Registrar"). 3. Procedural History The Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the "Center") on June 21, 2022. On June 27, 2022, the Center transmitted by email to the Registrar a request for registrar verification in connection with the Domain Name. On June 27, 2022, the Registrar transmitted by email to the Center its verification response disclosing registrant and contact information for the Domain Name which differed from the named Respondent and contact information in the Complaint. The Center sent an email communication to the Complainant on June 28, 2022 providing the registrant and contact information disclosed by the Registrar, and inviting the Complainant to submit an amendment to the Complaint. The Complainant filed an amended Complaint on June 28, 2022. The Center verified that the Complaint together with the amended Complaint satisfied the formal requirements of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the "Policy" or "UDRP"), the Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the "Rules"), and the WIPO Supplemental Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the "Supplemental Rules"). In accordance with the Rules, paragraphs 2 and 4, the Center formally notified the Respondent of the Complaint, and the proceedings commenced on July 13, 2022. In accordance with the Rules, paragraph 5, the due date for Response was August 2, 2022. The Respondent did not submit any response. Accordingly, the Center notified the Respondent's default on August 3, 2022. page 2 The Center appointed Nicholas Smith as the sole panelist in this matter on August 22, 2022. The Panel finds that it was properly constituted. The Panel has submitted the Statement of Acceptance and Declaration of Impartiality and Independence, as required by the Center to ensure compliance with the Rules, paragraph 7. 4. Factual Background The Complainant is an Indian company that since 2001 has provided outsourcing and technology services in connection with the provision of visa application services for various countries, including operating visa application centers under the VFS brand in which individuals can file visa applications. The Complainant has successfully processed 240 million applications since 2001 and operates 2541 Visa application centers around the globe. The Complainant promotes its services under the VFS brand including its portal at the domain name which it registered on February 23, 2005. The Complainant is the owner of trade marks in various jurisdictions consisting of letters VFS and VFS GLOBAL (the "VFS GLOBAL Mark"), including an Indian registration for the VFS GLOBAL Mark (Registration No. 1,555,893 for computer software in class 9, registered November 24, 2008). The Domain Name was registered on May 3, 2022. The Domain Name resolves to a website offering payper-click advertisements that for services that directly compete with the Complainant's services in connection with visa applications. 5. Parties' Contentions A. Complainant The Complainant makes the following contentions: (i) that the Domain Name is identical or confusingly similar to the Complainant's VFS GLOBAL Mark; (ii) that the Respondent has no rights nor any legitimate interests in respect of the Domain Name; and (iii) that the Domain Name has been registered and is being used in bad faith. The Complainant is the owner of the VFS GLOBAL Mark, having registered the VFS GLOBAL Mark in India, New Zealand and various other locations around the globe. The Domain Name is confusingly similar to the VFS GLOBAL Mark, wholly incorporating the VFS GLOBAL Mark and adding the descriptive geographic abbreviation "nz". There are no rights or legitimate interests held by the Respondent in respect of the Domain Name. The Complainant has not granted any license or authorization for the Respondent to use the VFS GLOBAL Mark nor is the Respondent commonly known by the Domain Name. The Respondent does not use the Domain Name for a bona fide purpose or legitimate noncommercial purpose. Instead, the Domain Name resolves to a pay-per-click site that purports to offer services in competition with the Complainant. Such use of the Domain Name cannot and does not constitute bona fide commercial use, sufficient to legitimize any rights and interests the Respondent might have in the Domain Name and therefore the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the Domain Name under paragraph 4(a)(ii) of the Policy. The Respondent is also using the Domain Name to commit fraud on third parties mislead into thinking that the Respondent is associated with the Complainant. There is no plausible circumstance under which the Respondent could legitimately use the Domain Name, which combines the VFS GLOBAL Mark and the descriptive term "nz", other than in bad faith. By using the Domain Name to resolve to a website that offers links to competing services, the Respondent is using the Domain Name to divert Internet users searching for the Complainant to the Respondent's website for commercial gain. Such conduct amounts to registration and use of the Domain Name in bad faith. page 3 B. Respondent The Respondent did not reply to the Complainant's contentions. 6. Discussion and Findings A. Identical or Confusingly Similar To prove this element, the Complainant must have trade or service mark rights and the Domain Name must be identical or confusingly similar to the Complainant's trade or service mark. The Complainant is the owner of the VFS GLOBAL Mark, having a registration for the VFS GLOBAL Mark as a trade mark in India. The Domain Name incorporates the VFS GLOBAL Mark in its entirety with the addition of the geographic abbreviation "nz" (an abbreviation for New Zealand) and hyphens to break up the words. Other UDRP panels have repeatedly held that where the relevant trade mark is recognizable within the disputed domain name, the addition of other terms does not prevent a finding of confusing similarity under the first element; see section 1.8 of the WIPO Overview of WIPO Panel Views on Selected UDRP Questions, Third Edition ("WIPO Overview 3.0"). The Panel finds that the Domain Name is confusingly similar to the Complainant's VFS GLOBAL Mark. Consequently, the requirement of paragraph 4(a)(i) of the Policy is satisfied. B. Rights or Legitimate Interests To succeed on this element, a complainant may make out a prima facie case that the respondent lacks rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name. If such a prima facie case is made out, the respondent then has the burden of demonstrating rights or legitimate interests in the domain name. Paragraph 4(c) of the Policy enumerates several ways in which a respondent may demonstrate rights or legitimate interests in a disputed domain name: "Any of the following circumstances, in particular but without limitation, if found by the Panel to be proved based on its evaluation of all evidence presented, shall demonstrate your rights or legitimate interests to the domain name for purposes of paragraph 4(a)(ii) of the Policy: (i) before any notice to you of the dispute, your use of, or demonstrable preparations to use, the domain name or a name corresponding to the domain name in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services; or (ii) you (as an individual, business, or other organization) have been commonly known by the domain name, even if you have acquired no trade mark or service mark rights; or (iii) you are making legitimate noncommercial or fair use of the domain name, without intent for commercial gain to misleadingly divert consumers or to tarnish the trade mark or service mark at issue." The Respondent is not affiliated with the Complainant in any way. It has not been authorized by the Complainant to register or use the Domain Name or to seek the registration of any domain name incorporating the VFS GLOBAL Mark or a mark similar to the VFS GLOBAL Mark. There is no evidence that the Respondent is commonly known by the Domain Name or any similar name. There is no evidence that the Respondent has used or made demonstrable preparations to use the Domain Name in connection with a legitimate noncommercial or fair use or a bona fide offering of goods or services. page 4 The use of the Domain name for a parking page with pay-per-click links unrelated to a dictionary meaning of the Domain Name is not a bona fide offering of goods or services nor noncommerical or fair use. The Panel notes the statements in the WIPO Overview 3.0 on the question of whether "parked" pages comprising payper-click links support the respondent's rights or legitimate interests. The section 2.9 of the WIPO Overview 3.0 notes that: "Applying UDRP paragraph 4(c), panels have found that the use of a domain name to host a parked page comprising PPC links does not represent a bona fide offering where such links compete with or capitalize on the reputation and goodwill of the complainant's mark or otherwise mislead Internet users. Panels have recognized that the use of a domain name to host a page comprising PPC links would be permissible - and therefore consistent with respondent rights or legitimate interests under the UDRP - where the domain name consists of an actual dictionary word(s) or phrase and is used to host PPC links genuinely related to the dictionary meaning of the word(s) or phrase comprising the domain name, and not to trade off the complainant's (or its competitor's) trademark." In the present case, the Domain Name has no inherent meaning and hence the Respondent's use of the confusingly similar Domain Name to host a parking page with pay-per-click links referring to the visa application services offered by the Complainant does not, absent any further explanation, provide the Respondent with rights or legitimate interests in the Domain Name. The Panel finds that the Complainant has established a prima facie case that the Respondent lacks rights or legitimate interests in the Domain Name. The Respondent has chosen not to respond to the Complaint and thus has failed to provide any evidence of rights or legitimate interests in the Domain Name. The Panel finds that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the Domain Name under paragraph 4(a)(ii) of the Policy. C. Registered and Used in Bad Faith For the purposes of paragraph 4(a)(iii) of the Policy, the following circumstances, in particular but without limitation, if found by the Panel to be present, shall be evidence of the registration and use of the Domain Name in bad faith: (i) circumstances indicating that the Respondent has registered or has acquired the Domain Name primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the Domain Name registrations to the Complainant who is the owner of the trade mark or service mark or to a competitor of the Complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of its documented out-of-pocket costs directly related to the Domain Name; or (ii) the Respondent has registered the Domain Name in order to prevent the owner of the trade mark or service mark from reflecting the mark in a corresponding domain name, provided that the Respondent has engaged in a pattern of such conduct; or (iii) the Respondent has registered the Domain Name primarily for the purpose of disrupting the business of a competitor; or (iv) by using the Domain Name, the Respondent has intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to its website or other online location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the Complainant's mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of the Respondent's website or location or of a product or service on the Respondent's website or location. The Domain Name was registered well after the VFS GLOBAL Mark was first used and registered. The Panel finds, on the balance of probabilities, that the Respondent would have been aware of the Complainant and its reputation in the VFS GLOBAL Mark at the time the Respondent registered the Domain Name. There is no obvious reason, nor has the Respondent offered an explanation, for the Respondent to register a page 5 domain name incorporating the VFS GLOBAL Mark and use it for a pay-per-click website that refers to the Complainant's services unless there was an intention to create a likelihood of confusion between the Domain Name and the VFS GLOBAL Mark. The Domain Name has been used for a parking page with pay-per-click links for which the Respondent undoubtedly received some commercial gain. In these circumstances where the Respondent has offered no plausible explanation for the registration of the Domain Name, the Panel finds that the Respondent is using the Domain Name to intentionally attempt to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to its website by creating a likelihood of confusion with the VFS GLOBAL Mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of the Respondent's website. As such the Panel finds that the Domain Name is being used in bad faith pursuant to 4(b)(iv) of the Policy. Accordingly, the Panel finds that the Respondent has registered and is using the Domain Name in bad faith under paragraph 4(a)(iii) of the Policy. 7. Decision For the foregoing reasons, in accordance with paragraphs 4(i) of the Policy and 15 of the Rules, the Panel orders that the Domain Name be transferred to the Complainant. /Nicholas Smith/ Nicholas Smith Sole Panelist Date: August 24, 2022
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