The domain sheratonheathrow.com to be transferred to Complainant Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., The Sheraton LLC and Sheraton International IP, LLC of Connecticut, United States of America
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world and there are over 400 Sheraton hotels worldwide including two Sheraton hotels near London’s Heathrow airport – the Sheraton Heathrow Hotel and the Sheraton Skyline Hotel London Heathrow.
They own SHERATON trademark registered worldwide in connection with its goods and services in the hotel and leisure industry for over 80 years
It had filed a complaint in WIPO against Moniker Privacy Services of Portland, United States of America, and Igor Nikolenko of Odessa, Ukraine for domain name <sheratonheathrow.com>
The WIPO Panel observed that
1. The disputed domain name <sheratonheathrow.com> reproduces the term “sheraton” in its entirety, and combines it with the term “Heathrow” and hence the disputed domain name is identical or confusingly similar to the SHERATON trademarks. Strong chance of the disputed domain name to be understood as providing access to the website of the Sheraton hotel(s) located at Heathrow Airport.
2. The Respondent failed to produce any evidence to establish its rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name.
3. It was further observed that by choosing to register and use a domain name which is confusingly similar to Complainant’s trademarks, the respondent intended to ride on the goodwill of Complainant’s trademarks and commercially gain by diverting traffic intended for SHERATON properties.
Based on the above mentioned observations the WIPO panel has ordered that the disputed domain name <sheratonheathrow.com> be transferred to Complainant.
