Decisión del Panel Administrativo nº D2017-1982 of WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, January 15, 2018 (case Paul DiCocco v. Curtis Lee Mickunas / Curtis L. Mickunas / Curtis Mickunas)
| Resolution Date | January 15, 2018 |
| Issuing Organization | WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center |
| Decision | Transfer, denied in part |
| Dominio | Generic Domains |
The Complainant is Paul DiCocco of Pasadena, California, United States of America (“United States”), represented by Karish & Bjorgum, PC, United States.
The Respondent is Curtis Lee Mickunas / Curtis L. Mickunas / Curtis Mickunas of Portland, Oregon, United States, self-represented.
The disputed domain names:
(a) [gianpaoloastrology.com], [make-astrology-great-again.com], [makeastrologygreatagain.org], [paul-dicocco.com], and [pauldicocco.com] are registered with GoDaddy.com, LLC;
(b) [gianpaolo-dicocco.com], [gianpaolodicocco.com], and [gianpaolo-dicocco-failed-predictions.com] are registered with PDR Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com, and
(c) [gianpaolo.info] is registered with Cloud Group Limited (all these registrars are referred to collectively as the “Registrars”).
The Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the “Center”) on October 11, 2017. Later that day, the Center transmitted by email to the Registrars a request for registrar verification in connection with all the disputed domain names. On October 12, 2017, and November 11, 2017, the Registrars transmitted by email to the Center their verification responses 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 16, 2017 providing the registrant and contact information disclosed by the Registrars and inviting the Complainant to submit an amendment to the Complaint. The Complainant filed an amended Complaint on November 5, 2017, and a second amended Complaint on November 14, 2017.
The Center verified that the Complaint together with the amended Complaints satisfied the formal requirements of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy”), 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 amended Complaints, and the proceedings commenced on November 23, 2017. In accordance with the Rules, paragraph 5, the due date for Response was set to December 13, 2017. The Respondent filed the Response followed by two successive (first and second) amended Responses with the Center all on December 12, 2017. The terms “Complaint” and the “Response” will hereinafter refer to the Complaint and amended Complaints, and the second amended Response, respectively, unless the specific context indicates otherwise.
The Center appointed Peter L. Michaelson as the sole panelist in this matter on December 19, 2017. 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. Due to exceptional circumstances, the due date for the Panel’s decision to be submitted to the Center was extended from January 2, 2018 to January 16, 2018.
As reflected in the registration records for the disputed domain names in the public WhoIs database, the following table indicates for each domain name: the specific Annex to the Complaint in which a copy of its registration record appears, when that domain name was registered and when that registration will either expire or has expired.
| Domain Name | Annex to Complaint | Registration Date | Expiration Date |
| [gianpaolo.info] | 1(a) | December 3, 2016 | December 3, 2018 |
| [gianpaoloastrology.com] | 1(b) | February 7, 2017 | February 7, 2018 |
| [makeastrologygreatagain.org] | 1(d) | February 10, 2017 | February 10, 2018 |
| [make-astrology-great-again.com] | 1(e) | February 7, 2017 | February 7, 2018 |
| [pauldicocco.com] | 1(f) | December 3, 2016 | December 3, 2017 |
| [paul-dicocco.com] | 1(g) | February 8, 2017 | February 8, 2018 |
| [gianpaolodicocco.com] | 1(h) | December 3, 2016 | December 3, 2018 |
| [gianpaolo-dicocco.com] | 1(i) | March 24, 2017 | March 24, 2018 |
| [gianpaolo-dicocco-failed-predictions.com] | 1(j) | April 15, 2017 | April 15, 2018 |
(i) Unregistered (common law) “Paul DiCocco” and “GianPaolo DiCocco” marks
The Complainant’s name is Paul DiCocco. He also trades under the pseudonym GianPaolo DiCocco. He uses both in connection with his business as an astrologer. While neither his personal name nor his trade name has been registered as a trade/service mark, the Complainant, based on prior use, claims common law trademark rights and thus exclusivity in both his name and trade name.
(ii) “MAKE ASTROLOGY GREAT AGAIN” registration
The Complainant owns a single US service mark registration for the phrase “MAKE ASTROLOGY GREAT AGAIN” (in block letters). The Complainant has provided in Annex 9 to the Complaint a copy of this registration, of which salient details are as follows.
MAKE ASTROLOGY GREAT AGAIN; United States Registration No. 5,296,392; Registered on September 26, 2017; filed on March 8, 2017.
This mark is registered for use in connection with the service of: “Astrology consultation” in international class 45. This registration claims that, in connection with this service, this mark was first used and first used in commerce on March 15, 2016.
The Complainant is an astrologer who primarily markets his services online. Typically, a customer will contact the Complainant and provide certain information to which the Complainant will then apply astrological principles and provide the customer with a written astrological chart.
The Respondent is a “locational” astrologer and has been one for nearly 30 years.
As noted in the Complainant’s declaration (a copy of which appears in Annex 8(a) to the Complaint), during 2013, the Complainant apparently desired to commence a career of his own as an astrologer and sought out the services of the Respondent. He received an astrological “reading” from the Respondent through which the Respondent advised the Complainant to relocate to the San Francisco area. As a result, the Complainant then relocated to that area. However and shortly thereafter, he apparently became disenchanted with his move. According to the Respondent, the Complainant, while in the San Francisco area, experienced “troubles with roommates”, “run-ins with the law” and a continuation of a “quarrelsome life”, and, thus requested and received, consistent with the Respondent’s refund policy, a refund of the entire USD 250 fee he previously paid to the Respondent for the “reading”.
Starting in or about April 2016, the parties had a falling out. Specifically, the Complainant, presumably because of the negative experiences he had in the San Francisco area and possibly exacerbated by his astrological career there not progressing as fast as he expected, then began criticizing the Respondent, his reputation and competence as an astrologer. The Complainant did so through posting his own videos having critical content, on YouTube. The Respondent then replied in kind, both defending himself and also criticizing the Complainant, his reputation and his competence. Over the next year and a half and continuing to the present, each of the parties, through social media (such as through YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook) mounted successive reciprocal personal attacks against the other which increased in hostility and intensity. These attacks eventually grew to levels which to the Panel appear to be offensive and against generally-accepted contemporary societal norms.
Between December 2016 and April 2017, the Respondent, seeking to defend himself against the attacks then being levied against him and their increasing fervor, registered all the disputed domain names. The Respondent stated, in...
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