There has been a dispute between two parties who organize beauty pageants for the domain name <missuniverscanada.com>
The complaint at WIPO was made by Miss Universe L.P., LLLP of New York, United States of America against Andre Miron of Longueuil, Quebec, Canada.
The Complainant organises the “Miss Universe” beauty pageant and has used the mark "MISS UNIVERSE CANADA" for many years to identify its National pageant in Canada.
Intrestingly the Respondent also organizes beauty pageants in Canada. These are under the names of “Miss Canada” and “Miss Teen Canada” and has registered trademarks in Canada in respect of those terms. He promotes his business via a web site located at “www.misscanadatm.com”.
In a recent WIPO(World Intellectual Property Organization) Decision, the domain name has been asked to be transferred to the Complainant as in its findings WIPO didn’t get any satisfactory explanation from the respondent as to why the disputed domain redirected to respondent’s own web site at “www.misscanadatm.com”. According to WIPO, the answer given that it occurred as a result of a “mistake” by “a programmer” lacked credibility.
