Decisión del Panel Administrativo nº D2019-2542 of WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, December 17, 2019 (case Airlinen Ltd v. Deyan Dimitrov, Laundryheap, VenturePoint Ltd)

Resolution DateDecember 17, 2019
Issuing OrganizationWIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center
DecisionTransfer
DominioGeneric Domains

WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center

ADMINISTRATIVE PANEL DECISION

Airlinen Ltd v. Deyan Dimitrov, Laundryheap, VenturePoint Ltd

Case No. D2019-2542

1. The Parties

The Complainant is Airlinen Ltd, United Kingdom, represented by Adlex Solicitors, United Kingdom.

The Respondent is Deyan Dimitrov, VenturePoint Ltd, Bulgaria and Deyan Dimitrov, Laundryheap, United Kingdom, self-represented.

2. The Domain Names and Registrar

The disputed domain names [airlinen.com] and [airlinens.com] are registered with GoDaddy.com, LLC (the “Registrar”).

3. Procedural History

The Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the “Center”) on October 16, 2019. On October 17, 2019, the Center transmitted by email to the Registrar a request for registrar verification in connection with the disputed domain names. On October 18, 2019, the Registrar transmitted by email to the Center its verification response disclosing registrant and contact information for the disputed domain names which differed from the named Respondent and contact information in the Complaint. The Center sent an email communication to the Complainant on October 23, 2019, 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 October 24, 2019.

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 October 30, 2019. In accordance with the Rules, paragraph 5, the due date for Response was November 19, 2019. The Respondent issued two email communications to the Center on November 4, 2019. The Response was filed with the Center on November 19, 2019. The Complainant filed a supplemental filing on November 29, 2019. The Respondent filed a supplemental filing on December 1, 2019. On December 3, 2019, the decision due date was extended to December 17, 2019.

The Center appointed Andrew D. S. Lothian as the sole panelist in this matter on November 26, 2019. 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

A. The Complainant

The Complainant is a United Kingdom private limited company incorporated on April 22, 2016. Since around the time of its incorporation, it has provided linen hire and related services to short term let properties and hotels under the name “Airlinen”. The Complainant states that it has servicing access to over 4,500 properties in London as well as additional properties in other United Kingdom cities. According to a letter from the Complainant’s accountants, its turnover has grown from GBP 44,317 in the financial year ended April 30, 2017 to GBP 1,788,369 at the corresponding year end in 2019.

The Complainant maintains a website at “www.airlinen.co.uk”, the corresponding domain name for which was registered on March 20, 2016. The Complainant states that it engages in online and offline marketing activities to promote its “Airlinen” brand including search engine optimization to raise its presence in organic search results, and the purchase of paid advertising on relevant keywords. The Complainant appears on the first page of Google search results for “short let” and “linen hire” related terms.

The Complainant is the owner of two registered trademarks for the word mark AIRLINEN. These are United Kingdom registered trademark No. 3175574 filed on July 20, 2016, and registered on October 14, 2016, in classes 9, 24, 37, 39, 40 and 43, and European Union registered trademark No. 17971980 filed on October 23, 2018, and registered on February 7, 2019, in classes 3, 12, 24, 35, 37, 39 and 43.

B. [airlinen.com]

This disputed domain name was created on November 7, 2011. According to the Complainant’s historic WhoIs entries, it was registered to a domain name dealer and was being offered for sale on February 9, 2018. By February 6, 2019, it had been registered to a registrant organization name of “Laundryheap” with an address of “London, United Kingdom”. Upon registrar verification, the Registrar provided details indicating that it was registered to the registrant name “Deyan Dimitrov” and a registrant organization name of “Laundryheap” with a complete postal address in London, United Kingdom. The listed registrant telephone number is in the format of a United Kingdom mobile telephone number.

The Complainant’s screenshots show that as at March 6, 2019, this disputed domain name had been set to permanently redirect to “www.nestangel.com”. This website relates to a business branded “Nestangel” which appears to be in competition with the Complainant in that it offers rental of bed linen and towels for short let, serviced apartments, and hotels “to any address in London”. A separate screenshot of said website dated September 16, 2019, shows that the “Nestangel” site is made in London and states “NestAngel is a registered trademark of Laundryheap Limited”. The Complainant shows with reference to a WhoIs entry for [nestangel.com] that this domain name is registered to a registrant organization name of “VenturePoint Limited”, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The Complainant also shows with reference to an extract from United Kingdom Companies House that the director of Laundryheap Limited is “Deyan Dimitrov” with a correspondence address in London, United Kingdom, the street and city address of which matches that of the registrant postal address for the disputed domain name [airlinen.com] as verified by the Registrar.

C. [airlinens.com]

This disputed domain name was created on August 10, 2016. Both a historic WhoIs entry dated August 11, 2016 and the Registrar verification show that it is registered to the registrant name of “Deyan Dimitrov” and registrant organization name of “VenturePoint Limited” with a full postal address in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The registrant telephone number provided is the same United Kingdom mobile telephone number as that verified by the Registrar in respect of the disputed domain name [airlinen.com]. A screenshot prepared by the Complainant shows that as at September 4, 2019, this disputed domain name had been set to permanently redirect to “www.nestangel.com”.

D. [airlinens.co.uk]

This domain name is not one of the disputed domain names in the present case but is relevant to the Parties’ contentions. It was created on August 10, 2016. The Complainant’s historic WhoIs entry shows that it was registered to VenturePoint Ltd at the same postal address in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, as provided for the disputed domain name [airlinens.com]. The Complainant’s screenshot shows that as at September 4, 2019, this domain name had also been set to permanently redirect to “www.nestangel.com”.

E. The Respondent

The Response is signed and filed by Deyan Dimitrov, described on the covering email as “Founder and CEO / Laundryheap”. The Response states that it has been provided by and on behalf of an entity named Laundryheap, Inc., a Delaware, United States of America (“United States”) corporation which provides laundry and cleaning services to customers in the United States. It also states that Laundryheap, Inc. is part of a group of companies which includes Laundryheap Limited. Further discussion on this matter will be provided in the section on consolidation of respondents below.

F. The Parties’ past history and pre-complaint correspondence

The Parties agree that they are linked to a past business relationship albeit that neither of the Parties appear to suggest that the relationship was directly between the Complainant and the Respondent here. The Complainant says that a company under common ownership with the Complainant named Easy Dry Clean Limited, trading as Ascots of London, supplied dry cleaning services to the Respondent (it does not specify to which of the Respondent entities) from around 2015. The Respondent states that said Easy Dry Clean Limited provided such services to Laundryheap Limited.

The Complainant’s representative wrote to the Respondent on March 6, 2019, regarding the disputed domain name [airlinen.com] alleging trademark infringement and passing off, and seeking removal of the website redirection, transfer of said disputed domain name, and confirmation that the Respondent will not otherwise infringe the Complainant’s rights. The Respondent replied initially on March 18, 2019, requesting some time and indicating that it was “currently working through your requests”. On April 1, 2019, the Respondent emailed the Complainant’s representative indicating that it had removed the redirect from the disputed domain name [airlinen.com] and stating that it considered the case closed. The Complainant’s representative replied on the same date that it awaited a response on the outstanding issues and followed up on June 24, 2019.

The Respondent replied substantively to the Complainant’s representative on June 29, 2019 noting the terms of its alleged supplier-customer relationship with the Complainant and referencing written and verbal agreements suggesting that there was a contractual dispute between the Parties. The Respondent added that the disputed domain name [airlinen.com] had been available to purchase on the free market for years and that the Complainant did not appear to have had an interest in it in the past.

The Respondent produces an extract of a “Whatsapp” message dated July 3, 2016, wherein a...

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