Czech Arbitration Court Rules Against Serbian Underwear Producer in Domain Name Dispute

On August 11, 2010, the Czech Arbitration Court (CAC) ordered the domain name Bugattidoo.com to be transferred from the Serbian underwear producer Bugatti d.o.o. to F. W. Brinkman GmbH, the renowned German producer of clothing, footwear, leather products and accessories.

The German company, which initiated the legal proceedings, registered the Bugatti mark in 1978 in Germany, while the Bugatti brand became internationally known during the 1990s. The defendant was previously known as Dakota d.o.o. and changed its name to Bugatti d.o.o. in July 2006.

The defendant filed trademark applications to register the mark Bugatti in October 2009 and the mark Bugattidoo Underwear in July 2008 but both attempts were unsuccessful.

The plaintiff argued that it is commercially present on the Internet through the domain name Bugatti.de and that its Bugatti clothing brand has become well-known in many countries, including Serbia, long before the defendant’s registration of the infringing domain name in October 2006.

The CAC ruled that the disputed domain name is confusingly similar to the plaintiff’s trademark and that the defendant registered and used it in bad faith, i.e. to attract Internet users to its website for commercial gain.

The CAC provides dispute resolution for top-level domains such as .com. It was recently appointed as a Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy provider (UDRP) by ICANN.

For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: CAC, PETOSEVIC