WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center ADMINISTRATIVE PANEL DECISION WhatsApp Inc. v. Gil David Case No. D2019-1284 1. The Parties

The Complainant is WhatsApp Inc., United States of America (“United States”), represented by Hogan Lovells (Paris) LLP, France.

The Respondent is Gil David, Israel. 2. The Domain Name and Registrar

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

The Complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (the “Center”) on June 5, 2019. On June 6, 2019, the Center transmitted by email to the Registrar a request for registrar verification in connection with the Domain Name. On June 6, 2019, 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.

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 of the Complaint, and the proceedings commenced on June 14, 2019. In accordance with the Rules, paragraph 5, the due date for Response was July 4, 2019. The Respondent did not submit any response. Accordingly, the Center notified the Respondent’s default on July 9, 2019.

The Center appointed Ellen Shankman as the sole panelist in this matter on July 16, 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

The date of the Domain Name registration was confirmed by the Registrar to be July 10, 2017.

The Complainant provided evidence of multiple trademark registrations for the mark WHATSAPP including, inter alia, Israel Registration No. 239990 (registered on December 4, 2012),United States Trademark Registration No. 3939463 (registered on April 5, 2011), European Union Trade Mark No. 009986514 (registered on October 25, 2011), and European Union Trade Mark No. 010496602 (registered on May 18, 2012) both for word marks logos that predate the date of the Domain Name registration for a variety of software and social media goods and services.

The Panel also conducted an independent search to determine that the Domain Name resolves to an active webpage that resolves to a website available in English and Hebrew and confirms in reviewing both the Hebrew and the English that the website purports to provide online invitations to open chat groups hosted on the Complainant’s WhatsApp application, as well as groups hosted on the third-party “Telegram” application, with links for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. 5. Parties’ Contentions A. Complainant

The Complainant, WhatsApp Inc., is a provider of one of the world’s most popular mobile messaging applications (or “apps”). Founded in 2009 and acquired by Facebook, Inc. in 2014, WhatsApp allows users across the globe to exchange messages for free via smartphones, including iPhone, BlackBerry and Android. Its main website available at “” also allows Internet users to access its messaging platform. The Complainant alleges that since its launch in 2009, WhatsApp has become one of the fastest growing and most popular mobile applications in the world, with over 1.5 billion monthly active users worldwide (as of October 2018). WhatsApp has acquired considerable reputation and goodwill worldwide. Consistently being ranked amongst Apple iTunes’ 25 most popular free mobile applications and Tech Radar’s Best Android Apps, WhatsApp was the fourth most downloaded application worldwide as per App Annie’s Top Apps Worldwide Rankings in 2018.

The Complainant contends that it has also made substantial investments to develop a strong presence online by being active on various social media forums. For instance, WhatsApp’s official page on Facebook has over 30 million likes. In addition, WhatsApp has 2.71 million followers on Twitter.

The trademark WHATSAPP serves as a house-mark of the Complainant and is protected as a registered trademark in multiple jurisdictions worldwide. Further, reflecting its global reach, the Complainant is the owner of numerous domain names, consisting of the WHATSAPP trademark, under various generic

Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) as well as under many country code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs). In addition to its strong presence online, the Complainant has secured ownership of trademark registrations for WHATSAPP in many jurisdictions throughout the world, as detailed above.

The Complainant alleges that it was recently alerted to the fact that a close variation of its trademark and company name had been reproduced together with the descriptive term “groups” under the gTLD “.com”. The Domain Name incorporates the Complainant’s WHATSAPP trademark, omitting only the second “P”, together with the descriptive term “groups” as a suffix. When compared with the Complainant’s trademark, the “whatsap” component of the Domain Name is visually highly similar and phonetically identical to the Complainant’s WHATSAPP trademark. The Complainant asserts that the addition of the term “groups” does not prevent a finding of confusing similarity with the Complainant’s WHATSAPP trademark, which remains clearly recognizable in the Domain Name.

The Respondent is not a licensee of the Complainant, nor has the Responden