Generic Top Level Domain Name (gTLD) Decisions

The Complainant is Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A., of Madrid, Spain, represented by Enrique J. Sirvent of Spain.

The Respondent is Nicolas Zalcberg, Z & A Group, of Montevideo, Uruguay.

The disputed domain name <wwwbbva.com> is registered with Go Daddy Software.

The Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the "Center") on June 19, 2003. On June 19, 2003, the Center transmitted by email to Go Daddy Software a request for registrar verification in connection with the domain name at issue. On June 21, 2003, Go Daddy Software transmitted by email to the Center its verification response confirming that the Respondent is listed as the registrant and providing the contact details for the administrative, billing, and technical contact. The Center verified that the Complaint satisfied the formal requirements of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the "Policy"), the Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the "Rules"), and the WIPO Supplemental Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the "Supplemental Rules").

In accordance with the Rules, paragraphs 2(a) and 4(a), the Center formally notified the Respondent of the Complaint, and the proceedings commenced on June 26, 2003. In accordance with the Rules, paragraph 5(a), the due date for Response was July 16, 2003. The Respondent did not submit any response. Accordingly, the Center notified the Respondent’s default on July 18, 2003.

The Center appointed Daniel Peña as the sole panelist in this matter on July 28, 2003. The Panel finds that it was properly constituted. The Panel has submitted the Statement of Acceptance and Declaration of Impartiality and Independence, as required by the Center to ensure compliance with the Rules, paragraph 7.

The Complainant owns the registrations for the trademark "BBVA" in many countries around the world. The Complainant’s rights in several of the trademarks "BBVA" pre-date the Respondent’s registration of the disputed domain name.

The Complainant's registered trademarks include, amongst many others, the following:

FILE NUMBER	TIPO	TM	DATE APPL. AFSOLICITUD	DATE REG.	CLASS
A 0001355270	D	BBVA	21/10/1999	20/11/2000	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42.
A 0001952746	M	BBVA	14/11/2000	16/01/2002	35, 36, 38.
A 0001973965	M	BBVA	24/11/2000	30/01/2002	9, 16, 42.
A 0001457746	M	BBVA	11/01/2000	02/07/2001	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42.

US Trademarks:

FILE NUM.	TIPO	TM	APPL. DATE	REG. DATE	CLASES
MX 2562867	D	BBVA	23/11/1999	23/04/2002	16.
MX 2561023	D	BBVA	23/11/1999	16/04/2002	35.
MX 2562869	D	BBVA	23/11/1999	23/04/2002	36.
MX 2562866	D	BBVA	23/11/1999	23/04/2002	38.
MX 2561073	M	BBVA	28/01/2000	16/04/2002	36.
MX 2562931	M	BBVA	28/01/2000	23/04/2002	38.
MX 2569053	M	BBVA	28/01/2000	14/05/2002	9.
MX 2562929	M	BBVA	28/01/2000	23/04/2002	16.

Spain Trademarks:

FILE NUMBER	TM	APPL. DATE-	REG. DADateFRESOLUCIO	CLASES
M 0002264652	BBVA	19/10/1999	07/03/2000	35.
M 0002264653	BBVA	19/10/1999	22/05/2000	36.
M 0002264654	BBVA	19/10/1999	07/03/2000	38.
M 0002265322	BBVA	22/10/1999	07/03/2000	39.
M 0002265324	BBVA	22/10/1999	07/03/2000	41.
M 0002265323	BBVA	22/10/1999	07/03/2000	40.
M 0002265325	BBVA	22/10/1999	07/03/2000	42.
M 0002265320	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	34.
M 0002265319	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	33.
M 0002265318	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	32.
M 0002265317	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	31.
M 0002265316	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	30.
M 0002265315	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	29.
M 0002265314	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	28.
M 0002265313	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	27.
M 0002265312	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	26.
M 0002265311	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	25.
M 0002265310	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	24.
M 0002265309	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	23.
M 0002265306	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	20.
M 0002265307	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	21.
M 0002265308	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	22.
M 0002265305	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	19.
M 0002265304	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	18.
M 0002265303	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	17.
M 0002265302	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	16.
M 0002265301	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	15.
M 0002265300	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	14.
M 0002265299	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	13.
M 0002265298	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	12.
M 0002265297	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	11.
M 0002265296	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	10.
M 0002265295	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	9.
M 0002265287	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	1.
M 0002265289	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	3.
M 0002265290	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	4.
M 0002265291	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	5.
M 0002265292	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	6.
M 0002265293	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	7.
M 0002265294	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	8.
M 0002265288	BBVA	22/10/1999	06/03/2000	2.
M 0002265321	BBVA	22/10/1999	07/03/2000	37.

Uruguay Trademarks:

FILE NUM.	TM	APPL. DATE	REG. DATE	CLASS
MX 317965	BBVA	27/10/1999	24/07/2000	9.
MX 317966	BBVA	27/10/1999	18/08/2000	16.
MX 317967	BBVA	27/10/1999	18/08/2000	35.
MX 317968	BBVA	27/10/1999	18/08/2000	36.
MX 317969	BBVA	27/10/1999	18/08/2000	38.

The Complainant has also protected its trademarks internationally. BBVA registrations also exist in Andorra, Argentina, Benelux region, Brazil, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Swaziland, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

BBVA is one of the major players in the European banking market. The more than 90 thousand persons who together make up the BBVA Group, serving 35 million customers in 37 countries through a network of 7,500 branches, will continue to manage 400 million Euros to our characteristic high standards of excellence and individual responsibility, to the benefit of the organization, customers, shareholders and society as a whole. The international presence of BBVA now dates back a century. In 1902, Banco de Bilbao opened a branch in Paris and, in 1918, another in London. In this respect, the group was several decades ahead of other Spanish banks.

BBVA is involved in corporate, retail and international banking, and other financial services. The Complainant BBVA is one of the leading banks in the Spanish market. The Complainant BBVA is listed on nine different exchanges and operates in over 35 different countries.

The <wwwbbva.com> domain name is confusingly similar to the Complainant’s BBVA mark as the two are almost identical. In fact, the Respondent’s Domain Name incorporates the BBVA mark in its entirety combined with the letters "www".

The Respondent is not commonly known, as an individual, business, or other organization by any product or service related with the term "bbva" alone or combined with the denomination of the products or services that could eventually offer in the market. The Respondent is not known in the market with the name BBVA and has not registered any mark containing this term.

The Complainant contends that the disputed domain name was registered and has been used in bad faith. Because of the international notoriety of the Complainant’s trademark BBVA and the high profile of the bank and the BBVA web site, the Respondent would have been fully aware of the Complainant’s and/or BBVA's rights and reputation prior to the registration of the disputed domain name and was in any event on constructive notice of the trademark registrations and other domain name registrations. The disputed domain name represents an example of "typo-squatting," which is a deliberate attempt to exploit a common typographical mistake of Internet users or search engines to lure Internet users to the Respondent’s site. The disputed domain name is used to divert Internet users to gambling services offered by the Respondent's site directly or by an organization for which the Respondent acts as a portal.

The Respondent did not reply to the Complainant’s contentions.

Given that the domain name <wwwbbva.com> is not identical to trademark BBVA, registered and used in several countries by the Complainant, the Panel must examine if both expressions are confusingly similar.

The inclusion of the letters "www" as the initial part of the domain name registration allows this Panel to infer that the Respondent wanted to use this group of letters that stand for "world wide web".

With respect to the first requirement, the Panel considers that the fact of including the letter "w" three times does not make a sufficient difference between the domain name and the Complainant’s trademark. On the contrary, and considering the requirement that the disputed domain name and the trademark must be confusingly similar, this Panel believes that the expression <wwwbbva> is similar to trademark BBVA and, therefore, may confuse the public about the business origin, the quality of products or services, about the title-holder of the domain name and, above all, about the actual owner of the web page published under the disputed domain name.

The Complainant has shown sufficient evidence about his legitimate rights over the expression "bbva" not only in his country of origin but also in a number of other countries. The Complainant has also shown evidence about the extensive use of such expression in trade during several years so as to reach the recognition of the public.

The Complainant contends that the Respondent is not commonly known, as an individual, business, or other organization by any product or service related with the term "bbva" alone or combined with the denomination of the products or services that could eventually offer in the market. By not replying to the Complainant’s contentions, the Respondent has failed to show evidence to this Panel about his possible legitimate rights in the disputed domain name.

In accordance with the Rules, the Panel shall first examine whether bath faith existed at the time of registration and then whether the use of the disputed domain name is also a bad faith use.

With regard to the domain name registration, the Panel considers that bad faith existed since the Respondent registered the domain name mainly in order to prevent the owner of the trademark or service mark from reflecting the mark in a corresponding domain name Policy 4(b)(ii). This is particularly due to the ample recognition that trademark BBVA possess internationally.

With respect to bad faith use, both the evidence presented by the Complainant and the Panel's own investigations, show that the disputed domain name has been re-directed to an on-line casino page located at "www.elcasino.com". This suggests that the use of the domain name by the Respondent has intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, internet users to his 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 his web site or location or of a product or service on his web site or location.

Additionally, there is evidence that during these proceedings, the parties exchanged e-mails regarding the price of a possible transfer. In such e-mails the Respondent refers to a price of four thousand US dollars, an amount that exceeds the customary cost of acquisition of a domain name. In accordance with the Policy, the foregoing is another argument supporting what has been previously indicated by this Panel about the existence of bad faith in the registration and use of the disputed domain name.

For all the foregoing reasons, in accordance with Paragraphs 4(i) of the Policy and 15 of the Rules, the Panel orders that the domain name, <wwwbbva.com> be transferred to the Complainant.