Before the:
WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION
ARBITRATION AND MEDIATION CENTER
|
BURSON-MARSTELLER, LLC 230 Park Avenue South New York,
New York 10003 (Complainant) |
Case No: D2002-1012 |
|
-v- |
Disputed Domain Name:
BURSONMARSTELLER.COM |
|
Dexter Smith 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York, New York 10112 (Respondent) |
<bursonmarsteller.com> |
________________________________
[1.] On
Sunday, November 17, 2002, the Respondent received a Notification of Complaint
and Commencement of Administrative Proceeding from the WIPO Arbitration and
Mediation Center (the Center) by e-mail
informing the Respondent that an administrative proceeding had been commenced
by the Complainant in accordance with the Uniform Domain Name Dispute
Resolution Policy (the Policy),
approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) on October 24, 1999, the Rules for Uniform Domain Name
Dispute Resolution Policy (the Rules),
approved by ICANN on October 24, 1999, and the WIPO Supplemental Rules for
Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the Supplemental Rules). The Center
set November 27, 2002 as the last day for the submission of a Response by the
Respondent.
II. RespondentÕs Contact Details
[2.] The RespondentÕs
contact details are:
Name: Dexter
L. Smith
Address: 30
Rockefeller Plaza
New
York, New York, 10112
Telephone: (413)
657-6463
E-mail: dexter@rtmark.com
[3.] The
RespondentÕs authorized representative in this administrative proceeding is:
Name: Paul
Hardwin, Advisor
Address: Yurt
Media Center
893
West St.
Amherst,
MA 01002
Telephone: (413)
559-6600
E-mail: phardwin@yurt.org
[4.] The RespondentÕs preferred method of
communications directed to the Respondent in this administrative proceeding is:
Electronic-only
material
Method: e-mail
Address: dexter@rtmark.com
Contact: Dexter
Smith
Material
including hardcopy
Method: Post/Courier
Address: Yurt
Media Center
893
West St.
Amherst,
MA 01002
Contact: Paul
Hardwin
III. Response
to Statements and Allegations Made in Complaint
[5.] This
Response contests the ÒSummary of partiesÓ provided by the Complainant and
furthermore calls into question the extent to which the public may trust the
Complainant to accurately and fully represent its business practices on its Web
site. The Respondent requests that the panel take into account the following
additions during the proceedings.
[6.] Established
in 1953, Burson-Marsteller, LLC (The ÒComplainantÓ), to the extent that it and its trademark,
ÒBurson-MarstellerÓ (the ÒTrademarkÓ) are
commonly known outside of the public relations and advertising industries, has
a well-documented public reputation for its unethical business practices,
including for purposes of these proceedings but not limited to, working for
repressive political regimes, organizing consumer-front groups to create the
appearance of public support for harmful consumer products and unsustainable
environmental practices, minimizing public knowledge of critical consumer and
labor issues, exercising corporate influence over media outlets, and spying on
and harassing political activists as noted by the Center for Media &
Democracy in the 1995 book, Toxic Sludge is Good for You (see Annexes
10, 12, 13, and 14).
[7.] The
Respondent, Dexter L. Smith, is a resident of the State of New York and the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and owner of a cellular telephone purchased in
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
[8.] The Respondent hereby
responds to the statements and allegations in the Complaint and respectfully
requests the Administrative Panel to deny the remedies requested by the
Complainant, calling specific attention to the bases upon which the Complainant
formulates the argument before the panel, and highlighting the importance of
this dispute in securing the right to freely distribute and properly associate
with a trademark and the business practices of the trademark holder educational
material which is in the public interest and relevant to the well being of
citizens of the World Intellectual Property OrganizationÕs (the ÒWIPOÓ) member states.