The Karlsruhe-based company DM-Drogerie Markt GmbH & Co. KG filed a complaint with WIPO (World Intellectual Property Office) in June 2018 regarding the domain dmdeutschland.net and demanded a transfer into its own domain portfolio. The complainant is represented in 12 European countries with more than 3,000 branches and is regarded as the drugstore chain with the highest turnover in Germany. It is in possession of different trademarks "DM" in different classes with protection in all EU countries. Furthermore the company owns the domain dm.de, as well as this abbreviation under further domain extensions. The defendant is a private person from France and registered the domain dmdeutschland.net on 04/28/2018.

In her complaint, the complainant states that her trademark is clearly recognisable and that the domain name also includes the country in which the drugstore chain has its headquarter. Visitors to this website therefore expect the complainant to have a website. Furthermore, she states that there is no legitimate fan or criticism site under this domain, but a fake raffle site for phishing purposes. According to the complainant, the domain should therefore be registered and used maliciously. Finally, the complainant also states that the defendant is neither entitled to use the marks nor is it generally known under "dm" or "dmdeutschland" and also not associated with the complainant. Finally, she mentions that the defendant's e-mail address is linked to the domains asos-de.com and demediamarkt.info. These facts lead the complainant to claim that the defendant uses domain names with trademarks of third parties for commercial purposes, with malicious intent and without any rights.

A statement by the defendant in this case was not filed with WIPO.

In its decision, WIPO states that the trademark "dm" is very present in Germany and other European countries and had to be known to the defendant, especially since it registered the domain name with the trademark and the addition of the country of the head office. She also states that a phishing site with a domain name that appears to look legitimate to the user is clearly fraudulent. WIPO therefore also takes the view that the domain dmdeutschland.net was registered and used maliciously. It therefore decides that the domain has to be transferred to the complainant.

The complete decision (D2018-1248) can be found on the WIPO website.

In this case, the defendant has repeatedly failed to make a statement to WIPO, confirming the suspicion that the domain has been maliciously registered and used. It also did not comment on the complaint concerning the domain asos-de.com (D2018-0071). Here it was also decided that the domain should be transferred to the trademark owner of "ASOS".

Phishing websites can damage a company's image and reduce sales, and damaged customers lose their money. We therefore recommend an automatic check of the domain or brand name in order to be able to act quickly and to limit possible damage.