EDINBURGH, Scotland — Casual dating site Cupid plc recently scored a victory in a cybersquatting case that accused a website operator of ripping off the look of its French-language BeCoquin.fr home page in entirety and diverting traffic for its own benefit.
Cupid, which runs an array of dating enterprises including BeNaughty.com and BeCoquin.fr, its French equivalent, filed a UDRP claim at WIPO charging that the respondent in the case registered and marketed the domain name BeCoquinfr.com, violating its trademarks.
The operator of BeCoquinfr.com, who used whois masking to register the domain, did not respond to the charges at WIPO. Archived records show that BeCoquinfr.com had been used to sell dating memberships for about three years.
According to the complaint, BeCoquinfr.com's operator wrongfully claimed on its home page that it was operated by a Cupid subsidiary, Frindr Ltd.
Cupid also said that BeCoquinfr.com employed BeCoquin.com and BeNaughty.com's signature logo that includes a heart with horns and a tail.
Cupid, a unit of Together Networks, has held E.U. trademarks for BeCoquin and BeCoquin by Naughty since 2011.
With the findings in hand, a WIPO arbitrator sided with Cupid, writing that screen shots going back years on BeCoquinfr.com have the "explicit look and feel of belonging" to Cupid.
The arbitrator ordered BeCoquinfr.com handed over to Cupid, writing that the domain was registered and used in bad faith.
BeCoquinfr.com has yet to be transferred.