WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center ADMINISTRATIVE PANEL DECISION Geekway, LLC v. Beats Case No. D2018-1945 1. The Parties

The Complainant is Geekway, LLC of Saint Louis, Missouri, United States of America (“United States”).

The Respondent is Beats of Daegu, Republic of Korea. 2. The Domain Name and Registrar

The disputed domain name is registered with Megazone Corp., dba HOSTING.KR (the “Registrar”). 3. Procedural History

The Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the “Center”) on August 27, 2018. On August 28, 2018, the Center transmitted by email to the Registrar a request for registrar verification in connection with the disputed domain name. On August 29, 2018, the Registrar transmitted by email to the Center its verification response confirming that the Respondent is listed as the registrant and providing the contact details.

On September 10, 2018, the Center notified the Parties in both English and Korean that the language of the registration agreement for the disputed domain name is Korean. On the same day, the Complainant requested that English be the language of the proceeding. The Respondent did not comment on the language of the proceeding by the specified due date.

The Center verified that the Complaint satisfied the formal requirements of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy” or “UDRP”), 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 and 4, the Center formally notified the Respondent in English and Korean of the Complaint, and the proceedings commenced on September 18, 2018. In accordance with the Rules, paragraph 5, the due date for the Response was October 8, 2018. However, the Respondent did not file any Response by the said due date.

The Center appointed Young Kim as the sole panelist in this matter on October 25, 2018. 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. 4. Factual Background

The Complainant is a United States company that hosts and operates an annual convention about board games called “Geekway to the West” (“Convention”). Since Jay Moore, Jeff Hiatt and Chris Darden (who subsequently incorporated the Complainant) had begun hosting the Convention using GEEKWAY and GEEKWAY TO THE WEST mark (Collectively the “GEEKWAY marks”) in 2005, the Convention has been held every year and the conventions are often attended by thousands of individuals from across the United States.

The disputed domain name was registered by the Respondent on February 13, 2010. Since its registration, the disputed domain name has been parked and listed for sale. 5. Parties’ Contentions A. Complainant

The Complainant contends that it has rights in and has continuously used the unregistered, common-law trademarks GEEKWAY and GEEKWAY TO THE WEST in commerce since 2005 in connection with its marketing and hosting of its gaming conventions. Specifically, the Complainant asserts that since Jay Moore, Jeff Hiatt and Chris Darden had begun hosting the Convention using the GEEKWAY marks in 2005, the Convention has been held every year and the conventions are often attended by as many as 3,000 individuals from across the United States. In 2010, Jay Moore, Jeff Hiatt and Chris Darden incorporated the Geekway, LLC, which is the Complainant, with the State of Missouri and transferred/assigned their assets related to the Convention, including the GEEKWAY marks, to the Complainant. The GEEKWAY marks have been continuously used in connection with the Complainant’s services of providing national board gaming conventions, through its websites, SNSs, advertisements, promotional materials, etc.

The Complainant contends that the disputed domain name is identical or confusingly similar to the Complainant’s GEEKWAY marks in which the Complainant has rights. The Complainant started to use its GEEKWAY marks in 2005, which is prior to the Respondent’s registration of the disputed domain name, and has been using the mark for 13 years. And the marks gained secondary meaning and became distinct identifiers among consumers. The disputed domain name’s suffix should not be taken into account for the purpose of assessing the identity or confusing similarity between the disputed domain name and the Complainant’s trademark rights.

The Complainant further contends that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name. The Complainant claims that the Respondent has no relationship with the Complainant and the Respondent has no evidence of use of the disputed domain name, nor demonstrable preparations to use the disputed domain name in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services. Furthermore, the Respondent has never been commonly known in the normal course of business by the disputed domain name and the Respondent is not making a legitimate noncommercial or fair use of the disputed domain name. The Complainant also argues that the Respondent is a professional cybersquatter having more than 30,000 domain name registrations, and merely resolved the disputed domain name to a domain parking service from which the Respondent receives pay-per-click commissions, seeking to sell the disputed domain name for an extraordinary sum of money.

Further, the Complainant contends that the disputed domain name was registered in bad faith. The Complainant argues that the Respondent registered the disputed domain name primarily for the purpose of selling it, considering that the Respondent desired to sell it to the Complainant for USD 9,900, and that the Complainant has more than 30,000 d