Decisión del Panel Administrativo nº D2019-2363 of WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, November 28, 2019 (case Naspers Limited v. M. Bishoen, CC Participaties B.V.)
| Resolution Date | November 28, 2019 |
| Issuing Organization | WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center |
| Decision | Transfer |
| Dominio | Generic Domains |
Complainant is Naspers Limited, South Africa, represented by Spoor & Fisher Attorneys, South Africa.
Respondent is M. Bishoen, C&C Participaties B.V., Surinam.
The disputed domain name [naspers.media] (the “Domain Name”) is registered with Key-Systems GmbH (the “Registrar”).
The Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the “Center”) on September 30, 2019. On the same day, the Center transmitted by email to the Registrar a request for registrar verification in connection with the Domain Name. On October 1, 2019, the Registrar transmitted by email to the Center its verification response confirming that Respondent is listed as the registrant and providing the contact details.
The Center verified that the 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 Respondent of the Complaint, and the proceedings commenced on October 3, 2019. Also, in accordance with paragraph 5 of the Rules, the due date for Response was October 23, 2019. The Center received various emails from Respondent on October 9, and 10, 2019, including a request for an extension of the Response due date. An automatic extension of the Response due date was granted until October 27, 2019, under paragraph 5(b) of the Rules. The Response was received on October 26, 2019.
The Center appointed Harrie R. Samaras as the sole panelist in this matter on November 12, 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.
Complainant is a multinational company headquartered in South Africa, offering services in more than 130 countries. Its principal operations are in media, internet communication, entertainment, gaming and ecommerce. It was founded in 1915 in South Africa under the name De Nasionale Pers Beperkt, and officially changed its name to NASPERS in 1998. Since then, Complainant has used the NASPERS Mark (or “the Mark”) extensively throughout the globe. Complainant also does business through its website at “www.naspers.com”. Media24, wholly-owned by Complainant, is Africa’s largest publisher, printer, and distributor of magazines and related media products, as well as Africa’s largest newspaper publisher.
As of April 2019, Forbes ranked Complainant Naspers as number 531 on its list of the world’s largest companies, number 224 on its list of the world’s best employers, and number 82 on its list of the world’s top digital companies.
Complainant owns registrations for the NASPERS Mark around the world including Chinese trade mark registration No. 5838054 (registered January 10, 2007) (NASPERS) and U.S. registration No. 3,791,745 (registered May 25, 2010) (NASPERS and design). Complainant’s registrations cover various goods and services including media.
Respondent is a company whose business is in the adult entertainment industry. It was started in 2010, and began doing business on the Internet in 2018. Respondent registered the Domain Name on June 4, 2019. The Domain Name does not resolve to an active website.
Complainant’s business and that of many of its subsidiaries extensively involves media, and Complainant’s NASPERS brand enjoys a strong association with and reputation in relation to media. Media24 has a sizeable digital publishing arm. Naspers is known globally as the largest shareholder in one of China’s most valuable companies, Tencent, a well-known streaming and social media business. In the record as Annex 13 are three news articles from Forbes, CNBC Africa, and Moneyweb, all predating registration of the Domain Name, which describe Complainant, under its NASPERS brand, as a “media giant”.
Respondent is almost certainly based in the Netherlands, where Complainant has a large physical presence and is well known for its media activities under the NASPERS Mark, all predating registration of the Domain Name. This is evidenced by a Google News search, limited to websites with a connection to the Netherlands.
Complainant recently incorporated a new entity, Prosus N.V. (“Prosus”), and transferred most of its Internet businesses to that new entity. Complainant owns and controls Prosus under its NASPERS Mark. Prosus is a global consumer Internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world focused on all forms of media. Naspers recently listed Prosus on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange, which was highly publicized in the international media prior to registration of the Domain Name.
The Domain Name consists exclusively of Complainant’s well-known NASPERS Mark combined with the generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) “.media”. The Domain Name is also identical and/or confusingly similar to Complainant’s registered NASPERS Mark given that NASPERS is the dominant and most distinctive part of Complainant’s registrations, or indeed the only part of same.
As per a WhoIs search dated June 11, 2019, Respondent’s country was initially listed as “NL” (Netherlands) when registering the Domain Name. According to a WhoIs search dated September 12, 2019, Respondent changed its country in the WHOIS record to Surinam. This change occurred on August 13, 2019, just over a week after Complainant sent its initial email containing notice of its Complaint to Respondent.
Around August 5, 2019, through September 3, 2019, the Parties were corresponding regarding the issues in dispute. Using email headers for Respondent’s email of September 3, 2019, the sender’s country was the Netherlands. And Respondent is using a Netherlands-based ISP as its hosting provider. As confirmed by WhoIs reports Respondent’s organization is listed in the WhoIs as C&C Participaties B.V. The Complainant has submitted evidence of an extract from the official Netherlands business register showing that this company is registered in the Netherlands, with a registered address in the town of Haren, Netherlands. In the...
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