Settlement Privilege And Domain Name Arbitrations -- The Case Of www.potterybarnbaby.ca

Settlement privilege was found to apply to certain documents filed with a Complaint in a recent CDRP proceeding and, therefore, not considered when assessing the alleged bad faith of the domain name registrant. In Williams-Sonoma Inc v Bensabath, (October 12, 2018), (CDRP, BCICAC) (<potterybarnbaby.ca>), the sole Panelist found that other admissible facts did show that the Registrant, Gad Bansabath, who owns and operates a Montreal-area business selling baby products, Boutique Pinkiblue, registered the contested domain name in bad faith, that he had no legitimate interest in the domain name, and that it was confusingly similar to the Complainant’s (Williams-Sonoma) registered trademarks, including for POTTERY BARN. The Panelist ordered that the domain name be transferred to the Complainant.