Hugo Boss recovers domain in cybersquatting dispute

German luxury fashion company Hugo Boss has won a domain name dispute at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

WIPO’s Arbitration and Mediation Center transferred the domain name hugoboss.site to the fashion brand.

The company filed a complaint on June 3 against respondent Irfan Butt. It said the domain name could cause confusion with its ‘Hugo Boss’ trademarks and that Butt had no rights or legitimate interests in the domain and was using it in bad faith.

Hugo Boss registered an international trademark for its name in April 1987.

Butt did not reply to Hugo Boss’ complaint.

In a decision dated June 27, but published yesterday, August 4, panellist Ian Lowe handed Hugo Boss the domain.

Lowe said Hugo Boss had “undoubted, uncontested rights” to the ‘Hugo Boss’ trademarks and “leaving aside” the generic top level domain suffix ‘.site’ it is identical to the Hugo Boss trademarks.

Further, he said that Hugo Boss had presented a prima facie case and the respondent had no rights or legitimate interests in the domain.

He added that he could not “conceive of any legitimate” reason why Butt would register the domain for any legitimate purpose.

The full decision can be seen here.