Generic Top Level Domain Name (gTLD) Decisions

P. O. Box 50191
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55405 USA

SHRI RAM CHANDRA MISSION
(A California not-for-profit corporation),

Complainant,

-vs-

SHRI RAM CHANDRA MISSION,

Respondent.

DECISION
Forum File No.: FA003000094237

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The above entitled matter was submitted to the undersigned, as arbitrator, for decision by letter dated March 27, 2000, on the Complaint of Shri Ram Chandra Mission (a California not-for-profit corporation) ("SRC" or "Complainant") against Shri Ram Chandra Mission ("Shri Ram" or "Respondent"). Upon the written submitted record, the following DECISION is made:

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Domain Name: sahajmarg.org
Domain Name Registrar: Network Solutions, Inc.
Domain Name Registrant: Shri Ram
Date of Domain Name Registration: November 20, 1998
Date Complaint Filed: February 28, 2000
Date of Commencement of Administrative Proceeding
in Accordance with Rule 2(a) and Rule 4(c): March 3, 2000
Due Date for a Response: March 27, 2000. Respondent submitted a Response to the Complaint.

After reviewing the Complaint, and determining it to be in administrative compliance, the National Arbitration Forum (The Forum) forwarded the Complaint to the Respondent in compliance with Rule 2(a), and the administrative proceeding was commenced pursuant to Rule 4(c). In compliance with Rule 4(d), The Forum notified Network Solutions, Inc. (Network Solutions), the entity that is the Registrar of the Domain Name, and the Complainant that the administrative proceeding had commenced.

On March 6, 2000, Network Solutions verified that Respondent is the Registrant for the Domain Name, and that further by registering its Domain Name with Network Solutions, Respondent agreed to resolve any dispute regarding its domain name through ICANN’s Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, and the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, pursuant to Network Solutions’ Service Agreement Version 4.0. Pending resolution of the instant dispute, Network Solutions has placed the Domain Name on "Hold" status.

THE COMPLAINT

1. The Complaint alleges that SRC registered the trade or service mark "Sahaj Marg" with the United States patent and Trademark Office of the United States Department of Commerce effective July 29, 1997. A copy of the registration is attached to the Complaint. SRC further alleges that it, on October 12, 1999, filed for further registration of the trade or service mark "Sahaj Marg". The term Sahaj Marg is stated to mean "natural path" in India. SRC also asserts that it has registered several other trade or service marks for such names as Shri Ram Chandra Mission.

2. SRC asserts that it has been Aassociated with the mark ["Shaj Marg"] since its first use on January 1, 1946", that Shri Ram’s registration of the Domain Name is confusing and hindering SRC’s current members, violates its registered trade or service marks, and that Shri Ram registered the Domain Name in bad faith, Aprimarily for the purpose of disrupting the business of Complainant, its competitor’s.

THE ELEMENTS OF PROOF

3. Section 4(a) of the ICANN Uniform Domain Name Dispute Policy requires the Complainant to prove each of the following three elements in order to sustain a claim that a domain name should be cancelled, transferred or changed:

(i) the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights; and

(ii) the registrant has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and

(iii) the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.

Section 4(b) provides:

Evidence of Registration and Use in Bad Faith. For the purposes of Paragraph 4(a)(iii), the following circumstances, in particular but without limitation, if found by the Panel to be present, shall be evidence of the registration and use of a domain name in bad faith:

(i) circumstances indicating that [the Respondent has] registered or [the Respondent has] acquired the domain name primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain name registration to the complainant who is the owner of the trademark or service mark or to a competitor of that complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of [the Respondent’s] documented out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name; or

(ii) [the Respondent has] registered the domain name in order to prevent the owner of the trademark or service mark from reflecting the mark in a corresponding domain name, provided that [the Respondent has] engaged in a pattern of such conduct; or

(iii) [the Respondent has] registered the domain name primarily for the purpose of disrupting the business of a competitor; or

(iv) by using the domain name, [the Respondent has] intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to [the Respondent’s] web site or other on-line location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant’s mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of [the Respondent’s] web site or location or of a product or service on [the Respondent’s] web site or location.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF REASONS FOR DECISION

4. The evidence submitted by Complainant fails to establish that Shri Ram has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the Domain Name sahajmarg.org, or that it acted in bad faith. There is no evidence that Shri Ram has any intention of selling the Domain Name for excess consideration, registered the Domain Name for an improper purpose or as part of a pattern, or intentionally sought, for commercial gain, to attract users to its web site by creating a likelihood of confusion.

5. Indeed, the evidence submitted by Shri Ram establishes that Shri Ram has a legitimate interest in the Domain Name and has not acted in bad faith. For example, a Certificate of Registration of Societies dated Locknow, India 21 July 1945 evidences that the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, as opposed to SRC which is a California corporation, was formed in India on or prior to that date. The "Aims and Objectives" of Shri Ram are stated, in a copy of its Rules and Constitution dated 2 July 1945, to include: to encourage the down-hearted and promote amongst them the easier methods, practicable to them, for the attainment of social and moral aims of life, based on the principles of spirituality, translated as "Sahaj Marg". A similar use of Sahaj Marg appears in a copy of Shri Ram’s minutes of a meeting of disciples and beneficiaries held at Shahjahanpur on June 10, 1945.

6. In its response, Shri Ram asserts that various other marks obtained by SRC, such as "Shri Ram Chandra Mission" should be cancelled as illegally obtained. There is no indication, however, that SRC agreed to arbitrate those issues under the Rules. Thus, that relief must be denied without prejudice to its being sought in the proper forum.

DECISION
It is decided that the Complaint must be and hereby is dismissed on the merits, that Respondent’s use of the Domain Name "sahajmarg.org" is hereby confirmed, and that the"Hold" on the use of said Domain Name should be removed.

Dated: New York, New YorkApril 4, 2000

Hon. Howard C. Buschman III (Ret.)

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