Haribo reclaims infringing domain

Haribo has recovered an infringing domain following a dispute at the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center.

The domain in question, haribo.co, was registered via GoDaddy.com by J.H. Kang, Republic of Korea.

German confectionery company Haribo contended that the disputed domain was confusingly similar to the registered Haribo trademark as it incorporated it “in its entirety”, with the country-code Top-Level Domain “.co” failing to distinguish the domain from the trademark.

Furthermore, it was argued that Kang lacked legitimate legal rights or interests over the registered Haribo trademark, therefore indicating that the domain had been registered in bad faith.

Kang failed to respond to Haribo’s contentions.

Sole panellist Tuukka Airaksinen affirmed that the domain constituted confusing similarity as it was “identical” to the registered Haribo trademark.

It was also found that the disputed domain had been registered in bad faith as it contained pay-per-click links advertising “Haribo gummies”, an explicit reference to the products associated with the legitimate brand.

Airaksinen concluded by ordering the transfer of the disputed domain to Haribo.