Steve Levy ⬥ 24 June
In a recent UDRP complaint, CVS Pharmacy, Inc. (CVS) was able to successfully recover the domain name cvsonlinepharmacystore.com. The complaint itself, filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was rather straightforward. The Respondent did not even bother submitting a response and CVS was easily able to meet all three requirements – the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which it has rights, the respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in the domain name, and the domain name was registered and used in bad faith.
While the complaint itself may have been unremarkable, it’s highlighted as a very smart move by CVS. The domain name, although a bit on the longer side, receives a tremendous amount of traffic. According to FairWinds’ calculations, cvsonlinepharmacystore.com receives approximately 707,099 visitors per year. These lost visitors were all missed opportunities for CVS. Now that it owns the domain name, it will be able to redirect that traffic back to its primary websites and hopefully gain some new customers and make some new sales in the process.
The lessons for brands in this case is that one domain name can make a big difference and it is important for brands to constantly be thinking about their domain name portfolios. CVS made a great choice in this case and demonstrates the best use of the UDRP by targeting a valuable domain name and building a strong and thoughtful case.
Tags: CVS Pharmacy, domain name, UDRP, Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy, WIPO, World Intellectual Property Organization