The WIPO arbitration panel has ruled that the domain name ferdinandporsche.com had been registered in bad faith and ordered that the domain be transferred to its legitimate owner, Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, Germany.

The complainant, a company established in 1931 by Ferdinand Porsche, produces sports cars under the PORSCHE brand name. The respondent registered the disputed domain name in 2005 and redirected the traffic to a parking website with pay-per-click advertising. After sending the cease and desist letter to the respondent and receiving no answer the complainant decided to file a complaint before the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center.

William R. Towns, acting as sole panelist, found that the disputed domain name incorporated PORSCHE mark in its entirety and that it was confusingly similar to the complainant’s trade mark.

The Panel noted that the respondent has not been authorized to use the complainant’s mark or to appropriate the mark for use with domain names and did not demonstrate any legitimate interests in the disputed domain name nor any established rights. It was also proved that the respondent had engaged in a pattern of conduct involving abusive domain name registration which in consequnce led to the bad faith

"to profit from and exploit the Complainant’s mark by diverting Internet traffic to the Respondent’s website to generate advertising revenue".