INDRP DISPUTE DECISION REVIEW – TAMO.IN

Complainant – Tata Motors Limited

Respondent – Mr Rahman, A resident of UK

Disputed Domain – www.tamo.in

Decision – tamo.in is forwarded to Tata Motors Limited

Case Summary:

In the given dispute the complainant was incorporated as “Tata Motors Limited”, Complainant has recently launched a new sub-brand “TAMO”.The Complainant has registered with the Indian Trademark registry for its trademark “TAMO-FLEX”,”TAMO!GO”,”TAMO!AIR”,”TAMOIPLAY”,”TAMOISTORE” in class 12 under trademark.Tamo operates as an agile,ring-fenced vertical, in a low volume, low investment model to provide fast-tracked proves of technologies and concepts.

In the given dispute the respondent has acquired that domain name as its a dictionary word.The domain name was created before the trademark application date of the complainant, there are several companies around the world using this word “tamo” and its also a domain name populary known as a generic CVCV.in category.

In order to win the domain from the respondent in an INDRP dispute, The complainant must prove all three following grounds.

According to honorable INDRP arbitrator

1)Registrant’s domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a name, trademark or service mark in which Complainant has rights.

The trademark registration is recognized as prima facie evidence of rights in a mark, and the complainant owns the tamo.co.in ownership. Complainant has proved the disputed name is confusing similar to the trademark of the complainant.

2)The registrant has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of domain name.

As per the evidence established by Complainant such as “offering the domain name for sale at undeveloped.com– Domain for sale landing page”.Therefore the Respondent has no legitimate right to the said domain name.

3)Registrant’s domain has been registered or being used in bad faith.

Arbitrator mentioned as the aspect of Respondent’s action to register the domain name is not bonafide, therefore, the said registration is done in bad faith.

Decision:

Honorable Arbitrator Dr.Sudhir Raja Ravindran taken the decision as the complainant has succeeded in it’s complaint.

Unfortunately, honorable INDRP arbitrator has ignored the fact that the domain has registered much before the sub-brand has launched by Tata Motors and also much before the Trademark application filed by the Tata Motors. Respondent has never tried to sell the domain name directly to the complainant or neither brought any kind of inconvenienece to the complainant such as publishing ads of the competitors..etc. Tamo is a generic name and just having a trademark in one of the class shouldnt give the rights to take the domain name from the legitimate owner who has purchased much earlier than a brand name has launched. How the domain name owner can guess in future a company name Tata Motors will launch a sub-brand TAMO?

Look at the trademarks closely (“TAMOFLEX”,”TAMO!GO”,”TAMO!AIR”,”TAMOIPLAY”,”TAMOISTORE”) and not a single one is “TAMO”. I am 100% confident they will never get the approval of they just ask for the word “TAMO” , so they circumvent to file some trademarks having the word “TAMO” in it. An excellent way of stealing domain names from rightful owner.

This is clearly the weakness of INDRP process. INDRP clearly favours the big companies blindly and help them to steal the domain names from individual registrants. In my view opinion, it’s the day light robbery by Tata Motors. What a Shame!!!

How to Steal the Domain Names Officially in INDRP Way?
a) All you need is identify a premium domain name parked or listed for sale
b) Just file a trademark (word mark or image work..etc.. anything is ok) registration anywhere in the world in any class and file an INDRP dispute

In short we can say, “TAMO.in” way.

Cost and Timelines Involved?
If you file a TM in a low cost country like India. End to end process at max cost you 1000 to 1500 USD and may be 7 to 8 months timeline is involved.

What could be the success rate?
Inregistry arbitrator award that domain name officially to you, this plan is indeed a dirty one however work with 99.99% success rate.

It’s the high time for inregistry to acknowledge the weakness of the existing INDRP proces and improve INDRP process to give the confidence to domain name owners the process is fair on both sides. UDRP is the perfect example of a balanced way of dealing the disputes.There are several examples set by WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) in dealing domain name disputes, selling generic domain names without infringing the trademark owner rights to be treated as a legitimate business. There are several after market places in the world where millions of names are listed for sale, these platforms could operate because its a legitimate business.

If you are one of the owners who has some premium .IN domain names, avoid them listing for sale. Prevention is better than cure.

If you are one of the companies trying to own the generic domain names, do not follow example set by Tata Motors. Its certainly unethical practice , negotiate with the rightful owner to buy your domain name. In my opinion, Tamo.in could have been purchased for 1200 USD and the end to end process could have completed with in 4 to 5 days time.I believe the lawyers of Tata Motors are misguided the orgnaisation to spend much beyond what actually it’s worth for.

Please read the further details about the dispute@”Tamo.in Dispute Decision”

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