Dispute Ruling: AFER's Transfer Request for Domain Name Afer.com Dismissed

In a recent UDRP (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy) decision, Complainant AFER's complaint was dismissed.

I. Background of the case

 According to domainingang, Association Française de l'Alimentation et de la Recherche (AFER) is a French company claiming rights to the AFER brand and trademark. The Complainant is a French association of financial advisory services, founded in 1976, with more than 760,000 members and managing €55 billion in savings. It owns a number of registered trademarks for the AFER mark, of which the AFER mark and design, European Union Trademark Registration No. 000395020, was filed on November 8, 1996 and registered on October 19, 1998.1 The Complainant is also the owner of a number of trademarks for the AFER brand and design, which it claims to own. The Complainant is also the owner of the domain name afer.fr, which was registered on August 17, 2000.

 The Respondent is an entity or individual with an address in the Republic of Korea.

 The Disputed Domain Name was registered on August 5, 2001 and, as of the time the Complaint was filed, it resolved to a domain name parking site that displays the names “Voyages”, “Finance”, “Immobilier” (real estate) and ‘Assurance’ (insurance).

II. Dispute between the parties

 The Complainant

 1. The Complainant asserts that all the conditions of the Policy for the transfer of the Disputed Domain Name have been met and that the Disputed Domain Name is identical to the textual portion of the Complainant's trademark.

 2. The Complainant further states that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the Disputed Domain Name and expressly states that it has not authorized or licensed the Respondent to use the relevant rights under any circumstances.

 3. Finally, the Complainant contends that the Disputed Domain Name was registered and used in bad faith. The Complainant states that it and its trademarks have been in existence for more than 40 years and that it is one of the well-known leaders in the insurance and retirement industry, and that the Respondent's use of the Disputed Domain Name is a deliberate attempt to attract Internet users as a means of creating confusion with the Respondent's website with respect to its origin, sponsorship, affiliation or endorsement.

 The Respondent

 1. The Respondent asserts that the Complainant has failed to satisfy two elements required for the transfer of the Disputed Domain Names under the Policy. First, Respondent argues that it has a legitimate interest in the Disputed Domain Name because it registered the Domain Name for the purpose of selling it for a profit, which is a globally lawful act.

 2. The Respondent argues that it has no intent to register or use the Complainant's mark in bad faith because “afer” means “Africa” in Latin and is a four-letter term used by many organizations such as the Equal Rights Foundation of the United States of America, the Asian Financial Engineering Study, and others. and is a four-letter term used by organizations such as the Equal Rights Foundation of the United States and the Asian Financial Engineering Research Institute.

 III. final findings

 1. The Panel first finds that the act of registering a domain name for resale (including for profit) does not, in and of itself, support a claim that the Respondent registered the domain name in bad faith (with the primary purpose of selling it to the owner of the trademark or its competitors).

 2. At the same time, there is evidence that the Complainant appears to have a limited reputation in Korea, where the Respondent is located, as confirmed by the Panel on the Korean Internet portal Naver.

 3. For the above reasons, the Complaint is dismissed.