The European railway alliance Railteam BV has won a domain dispute against Odessa-based Railteam LLC. The domain railteam.com.ua was the subject of consideration at the Arbitration and Mediation Center of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
The European railway alliance Railteam BV has won a domain dispute against Odessa-based Railteam LLC. The domain railteam.com.ua was the subject of consideration at the Arbitration and Mediation Center of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
WIPO arbitrator Maria Koval decided to transfer the domain name to the European alliance.
Railteam BV is a Dutch company founded in 2007. It unites seven of the largest European railway operators, including SNCF (France), Deutsche Bahn (Germany), Eurostar (Great Britain), SBB (Switzerland) and others. The alliance owns the international trademark RAILTEAM, registered in Ukraine in 2006.
The disputed domain name railteam.com.ua was registered in August 2024 through the Ukrainian registrar Imena.ua. The plaintiff drew attention to the fact that the domain was registered by an individual entrepreneur for the Ukrainian company Railteam LLC .
The Ukrainian side denied the accusations and stated legitimate interests:
The domain was purchased for a real business — the Ukrainian company Railteam LLC, which operates in the field of freight car repair and spare parts supply.
Passenger transportation in Europe (the plaintiff's sphere) and freight car repair in Ukraine (the defendant's sphere) are completely different markets that do not overlap, so there could be no confusion among consumers.
MX records are a standard technical setting for mail, and the plaintiff did not provide evidence of using the domain for phishing.
The defendant also demanded that the proceedings be conducted in Ukrainian, since the agreement with the registrar was concluded in Ukraine. However, the arbitration panel decided to conduct the case in English, taking into account the international status of the plaintiff and the use of the Latin alphabet in the domain.
Arbitrator Maria Koval found that the domain railteam.com.ua fully reproduces the plaintiff's trademark.
The defendant works in the same railway industry, where the RAILTEAM brand has been known for years. The use of the Latin "railteam" instead of traditional Ukrainian names (such as "railway") indicates that the name was not chosen by chance.
The registration took place 17 years after the Europeans registered their brand.
Under the .UA Policy, the arbitration panel decided that the domain name was registered and used in bad faith.
The domain railteam.com.ua should be transferred to the European alliance Railteam BV
