WIPO panel: domain name registered in bad faith although the registration was done before the compainant acquired trademark rights

In an UDRP case concerning the domain name ‘camilla.com.eu’, a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) panel decided that the domain name was registered in bad faith, even though at the time of its registration, the complainant (Camilla Australia Pty Ltd) did not have trademark rights in the name “camilla”. The domain name was registered in 2009, while the complainant filled the trademark registration request for the name in 2011. The panel notes that ‘the registration of domain names with the intention of ignoring any future trademark rights that might affect the chosen domain names is equally a bad faith registration as is an intention to profit from an existing and established trademark right. In both cases the intention is to profit from the intellectual property rights of another, and to deceive the public in their Internet use.’ Some reactions to this decision here.