WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center ADMINISTRATIVE PANEL DECISION Australian Broadcasting Corporation v. Hussein Elburai Case No. D2019-1181 1. The Parties

Complainant is Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia, represented by Baker & McKenzie, Australia.

Respondent is Hussein Elburai, Canada. 2. The Domain Name and Registrar

The disputed domain name (the “Domain Name”) is registered with TurnCommerce, Inc. DBA NameB (the “Registrar”). 3. Procedural History

The Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the “Center”) on May 23, 2019. On May 23, 2019, the Center transmitted by email to the Registrar a request for registrar verification in connection with the Domain Name. On May 23, 2019, the Registrar transmitted by email to the Center its verification response confirming that Respondent is listed as the registrant and providing the contact details.

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 Respondent of the Complaint, and the proceedings commenced on May 29, 2019. In accordance with the Rules, paragraph 5, the due date for Response was June 18, 2019. On June 15, 2019, the Center received an email communication from Respondent asking for a four-day extension. Pursuant to paragraph 5(b) of the Rules, the Response deadline was extended to June 22, 2019. The Response was filed with the Center on June 21, 2019.

The Center appointed Robert A. Badgley as the sole panelist in this matter on June 27, 2019. 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

Complainant is “an independent public broadcaster funded by the Commonwealth of Australia”. Complainant broadcasts via television, radio, and other media, and has been broadcasting in one manner or another since 1932. Complainant’s television broadcasts commenced in 1956, and its online broadcasts commenced in August 1995. Complainant’s website is located at “www..au”.

Complainant has used the mark ABC as a source identifier for its broadcasting services since 1932. In August 1994, Complainant received Australian trademark registrations for ABC SHOP and ABC CENTRE. In June 2013, it received an Australian trademark registration for ABC.

The record contains ample evidence that Complainant’s broadcasting activities within Australia are longstanding and extensive, and that the ABC-formative marks within Australia are well known. Complainant also states that, as of 1995 (the year in which the Domain Name was registered by the Canadian Respondent), it had licensed 26 of its television programs to be broadcast in Canada.

Complainant asserts that, just prior to the registration of the Domain Name, a number of media stories appeared in Canada to discuss Complainant. Some of these June 1995 articles announce the airing in Canada of the television drama series Phoenix, produced by Complainant. For instance, the record contains a June 11, 1995, article in the Toronto Star which summarizes various items in the entertainment industry. One item under discussion is the airing in Canada of the Phoenix series.

(This Toronto Star item refers to Complainant not as “ABC” but as “Australian Broad casting Corporation.” The very next item in this Toronto Star entertainment news summary does refer to “ABC,” but that is a reference to the American Broadcasting Company, another broadcasting network, in connection with a program about pop singer Michael Jackson. Likewise, the June 14, 1995, article in The Globe and Mail, also a summary of entertainment news items, discusses the Phoenix TV series and refers to Complainant not as “ABC” but as “Australian Broadcasting Corp.”. Once again, that Globe and Mail article then touches briefly on the Michael Jackson story with reference to the American “ABC”.)

Complainant also puts into the record a June 9, 1995 Dow Jones article reporting that the British Broadcasting Corporation (“BBC”) had just formed a “global newsgathering alliance” with Complainant and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. This article confusingly refers to Complainant as “ABC” while also discussing the American “ABC” broadcasting network, noting that the BBC had formed an alliance with the American “ABC” 18 months earlier. The article goes on to refer several times to “ABC”, sometimes in reference to Complainant and sometimes in reference to the American network. The reader must make an educated guess as to which “ABC” is referred to each time, based largely on context.

A handful of other articles appear in the record to discuss the airing of Phoenix in Canada or the newsgathering alliance between the BBC and Complainant. These articles are less confusing in terms of their references to Complainant as ABC.

According to Respondent, he worked as a customer support manager for a local Canadian Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) from 1994 to 1998. Respondent states that he was the only person at the ISP responsible for domain name registrations. He registered the Domain Name on June 11, 1995. His stated purpose for registering the Domain Name was for “a planned future project in Network services which came to fruition in 1999”. He states that he selected this particular Domain Name because “it was highly generic, short, easy to recall, and implies simplicity as in ‘Easy as ABC.’” He states that he chose the “.net” generic Top-Level Domain (“gTLD”) because he was involved in Internet networking activities and the “.net” gTLD was widely understood to refer to networking and network infrastructure.

The ISP for which Respondent worked was sold in late 1998. By that time, Respondent had taken courses in networking and had become certified as a network systems engineer. In early 1999, Respondent launched two websites under his recently incorporated company, ABC Computer Networks Inc. (“ABCCN”). One website was a web portal offering services such as a search engin