Decisión del Panel Administrativo nº D2015-0875 of WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, August 12, 2015 (case Ritzio Purchase Limited v. Domain Admin, PrivacyProtect.org / Timur Ziganshin / Lianna Tall, Escave Ltd / Private Whois, Global Domain Privacy Services Inc / Moniker Privacy Services)

Resolution DateAugust 12, 2015
Issuing OrganizationWIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center
DecisionTransfer
DominioGeneric Domains

WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center

ADMINISTRATIVE PANEL DECISION

Ritzio Purchase Limited v. Domain Admin, PrivacyProtect.org / Timur Ziganshin / Lianna Tall, Escave Ltd / Private Whois, Global Domain Privacy Services Inc / Moniker Privacy Services

Case No. D2015-0875

1. The Parties

1.1 The Complainant is Ritzio Purchase Limited of Nicosia, Cyprus, represented by Mapa Trademarks SL, Spain.

1.2 The Respondents are Domain Admin, PrivacyProtect.org of Nobby Beach, Australia / Timur Ziganshin of Izhevsk, the Russian Federation / Lianna Tall, Escave Ltd of Mahe, Seychelles / Private Whois, Global Domain Privacy Services Inc of Marbella, Panama / Moniker Privacy Services of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States of America, represented by Boston Law Group, PC, United States of America.

2. The Domain Names and Registrars

2.1 The disputed domain names [casino-vulcan.co] and [vulcan-casino.co] are registered with PDR Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com.

2.2 The disputed domain names [club-vulcan.com], [vulcan-cazino.org], [vulcan-casino2.com], [cazino-vulcan.com] and [vulcan-cazino.net] are registered with URL Solutions, Inc. How the disputed domain name [vulcan-cazino.net] came to be registered with URL Solutions Inc is addressed in the Procedural History section of this decision.

2.3 The disputed domain names are hereafter referred to collectively as the "Domain Names".

3. Procedural History

3.1 The Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the "Center") on May 27, 2015. At that time the publicly available WhoIs details for the Domain Names identified the registrants as the privacy services "PrivacyProtect.org", "Global Domain Privacy Services Inc" and "Moniker Privacy Services".

3.2 On May 22, 2015, the Center transmitted by email to the concerned registrars a request for registrar verification in connection with the Domain Names. On May 29, 2015, the concerned registrars transmitted by email to the Center their verification responses disclosing the underlying registrants behind the various privacy services as "Lianna Tall" and "Timur Ziganshin" and providing those registrants' contact information.

3.3 The Center provided this information to the Complainant on June 5, 2015 inviting the Complainant to submit an amendment to the Complaint. The Complainant filed an amendment to the Complaint on June 10, 2015.

3.4 The Center verified that the Complaint together with the amendment to 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").

3.5 In accordance with the Rules, paragraphs 2(a) and 4(a), the Center formally notified the Respondents of the Complaint, and the proceedings commenced June 12, 2015. In accordance with the Rules, paragraph 5(a), the due date for Response July 2, 2015. The Response was filed with the Center July 2, 2015, in the names of "Escave Limited" and by "Timur Ziganshin" and in this document "Escave Limited" and "Timur Ziganshin" accepted that they were the registrants of the Domain Names. In this decision references to the "Respondent" hereinafter is intended as a reference to these registrants unless the contrary is apparent.

3.6 The Complainant and the Respondent submitted Supplemental Filings on July 7 and July 17, 2015, respectively.

3.7 On June 25, 2015 the Center, having noted that one of the Domain Names [vulcan-cazino.net] was set to expire in September, sent an email in the usual form to Moniker Online Services LLC requesting confirmation of what if anything was required of the Parties to ensure that this Domain Name did not expire in the course of these proceedings. It would appear from subsequent correspondence between Moniker Online Services LLC, URL Solutions Inc and the Center, that whilst this Domain Name was unlocked to allow this Domain Name solely to be renewed, it was nevertheless permitted to be transferred to URL Solutions in apparent breach of paragraph 8 of the UDRP. However, URL Solutions appears to have placed this Domain Name on lock pending the outcome of these proceedings.

3.8 The Center appointed Matthew S. Harris, Olga Zalomiy and Paul M. DeCicco as panelists in this matter on July 28, 2015. The Panel finds that it was properly constituted. Each member of 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.

3.9 On July 28, 2015, the Respondent filed yet another supplemental filing. In that filing the Respondent referred to proceedings filed on July 24, 2015 with the Russian trade mark office that sought to cancel a number of the Complainant's Russian trade mark registrations. On July 31, 2015, the Complainant filed a submission in response asking the Panel to suspend these proceedings for 30 days pursuant to Paragraph 18(a) of the Rules. Later that same day the Respondent filed a further submission opposing that suspension.

3.10 On August 7, 2015, the Panel informed the Parties that it was not minded to suspend the proceedings as requested by the Complainant. It stated that it would inform the Parties of it reasons for not doing so in it decision in this matter.

4. Factual Background

4.1 The Complainant is a company registered in Cyprus and is part of a business group that has been engaged in gaming and casino operations for over 20 years.

4.2 It would appear that until the mid 1990s this group had substantial operations in Russia. However, (according to the uncontested claims of the Respondent in this respect), in 2009 all bricks and mortar gambling operations in Russia became illegal save in a limited number of government approved locations. At that point the Complainant withdrew its on-the-ground operations in that country.

4.3 Notwithstanding this physical withdrawal, the Complainant's business group has continued to operate elsewhere in the world. Undisputed evidence has been provided that shows that it still has operations in the form of 200 branded gaming clubs throughout Europe; in particular in Germany, Italy, Croatia, Romania, Belarus and Latvia. From 2006 to 2010 its revenues amounted to in excess of USD 5.5 billion.

4.4 It would appear that some, if not all, of these various operations have been conducted under variants of a single "Volcano" brand. "Вулкан" was used in Russia. "Вулкан" in Cyrillic is the equivalent of "Vulkan" in roman script. "Vulkan Stern" was and is still used in Germany, while "Vulcano della Fortuna" has been used in Italy and "Vulcan" has been used in Belarus.

4.5 The Complainant is also the owner of a number of registered trade marks around the world that incorporate or comprise variants of this brand. Many of these trade marks are registered in Russia. However, they also include the following marks:

(i) International trade mark no 791038 dated September 3, 2002 (based upon a Russian registration no 216203 dated July 3, 2002) in class 41 designating 14 different states, all of which either form part of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) or were historically part of the Soviet Union. The mark has proceeded to grant in all of these states and takes the following form:

(the "Volcano Design Mark")

(ii) International trade mark no 989103 dated August 11, 2008 (based upon a Russian registration No. 307879 dated June 2, 2006) for the word mark VOLCANO in classes 9, 16, 21, 25, 28, 35, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43 and 45, designating Belarus, the European Community, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Serbia and the Ukraine. The mark proceeded to grant unchanged in Belarus, Croatia and Serbia. In Kazakhstan it has been subject to provisional refusal. It has proceeded to grant in all other designated countries save for in respect of a modified set of goods and services. For example, the application proceeded to grant as a Community Trade Mark on September 3, 2012 in respect of goods and services in classes 16, 21, 25, 28, 35, 39, 41, 43, 45.

(iii) International trade mark no 984297 dated August 11, 2008 (based upon a Russian registration No. 353692 dated June 25, 2006) for the word mark VULKAN in classes 9, 16, 21, 28, 32, 35, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43 and 45, designating Belarus, the European Community, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Serbia and the Ukraine. The mark proceeded to grant unchanged in Croatia but has been provisionally refused in Kazakhstan. It has proceeded to grant in all other designated countries in respect of a modified set of goods and services. For example, the application proceeded to grant as a Community Trade Mark on October 1, 2012 in respect of goods and services in classes 9, 16, 21, 28, 35, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43 and 45.

4.6 The Domain Names were registered on the following dates:

[club-vulcan.com] February 2, 2012

[cazino-vulcan.com] August 6, 2013

[vulcan-cazino.net] September 10, 2013

[vulcan-cazino.org] October 9, 2013

[vulcan-casino2.com] October 30, 2013

[casino-vulcan.co] July 31, 2014

[vulcan-casino.co] July 31, 2014

4.7 Shortly after registration control of each of the Domain Names was passed to GGS Limited ("GGS"), an Anguilla company.

4.8 GGS has operated a website from the domain name [vulcan-casino.com] since June 2011 and has operated similar websites from the Domain Names since their registration. At all relevant times these websites have offered online gaming services. The websites are in the Russian language and almost all of the users of those websites come from Russia and the Ukraine. The percentage of Russian visitors ranges from 46 percent in the case of the website operating from the Domain Name [club-vulcan.com], to 82 percent in the case of visitors to the website operating from the Domain Name [vulcan-casino2.com].

4.9 The websites operating from the Domain Names prominently...

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