PRL USA Holdings Inc, owner of the brands, enjoys annual sales exceeding $4 billion worldwide. However, it failed to show that the owner of the contested domain names had registered the names and used them in bad faith. The owner is an entity called “Polo,” which used a PO Box address in Baltimore, Maryland.
WIPO panellist M. Scott Donahey wrote that the company “failed to make any factual allegations as to nature of use.” He noted that, had the company been able to show non-use of the names, there may be grounds for recovery. Instead, Donahey entered the names in his own computer – and found that they took him to polo.com – the official web site of Ralph Lauren.
The fashion company did not bother to make contact with the registered owner of the domain names and the owner did not respond to the WIPO complaint. In the circumstances, Donahey considered that bad faith had not been established, which is required by the rules, and consequently rejected Ralph Lauren’s case.