Alcohol Monitoring Systems, Inc. v. Peter Stranney, Claim Number: FA1303001488482 (NAF April 11, 2013)
Complainant sought transfer of the domain name scram.com. The panel denied the claim, and ordered the domain name to remain with Respondent.
Respondent did not dispute Complainant’s assertion that Complainant owned a valid registered trademark for SCRAM.
On the “rights or legitimate interests” element, the panel found that Respondent demonstrated that, before any notice of the present dispute, he had made preparations to use the domain name in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services.
The panel found there was no bad faith, relying heavily on the fact the domain is comprised of a generic term. It noted that transferring such a generic domain name for value is not bad faith unless the registration was undertaken with the intent of selling it to Complainant or its competitor. No evidence of that existed in this case.
Moreover, the panel observed that generic domain names possess an intrinsic value that, for all intents and purposes, exceeds the costs of registration. Where a domain name is a generic term, an offer to transfer the domain name at a price higher than the costs incurred for registration does not necessarily lead to bad faith.
