D’Avanzo Morreale commenced an arbitration proceeding against the registrant under ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). It was argued that the Ms. Munoz’s name is a famous mark entitled to all due protections of Federal trademark laws and that the registrant’s actions were an illicit misappropriation of that mark.

D’Avanzo Morreale argued successfully against, and the National Arbitration Forum Panel saw right through, the registrant’s attempt to argue permissive use through a fictitious joint venture with Ms. Munoz.

The Panel found in favor of Ms. Munoz on each of the following issues: 1) likelihood of confusion of the domain with the famous mark; 2) that the registrant lacked any rights or legitimate interests in the domain name; and 3) that the registrant’s use of the domain name was in bad faith. With respect to this last finding, the Panel agreed with D’Avanzo Morreale that the registrant was seeking commercial gain through the use of the disputed domain name—that the “services” offered by the registrant had no connection to any legitimate use of the domain name.

The Panel was explicit in its explanation that the decision neither took into account nor had any bearing on the free speech rights of the registrant, stating,

“Despite Respondent’s arguments surrounding a First Amendment right to free speech, the Panel finds that Respondent still lacks rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name under Policy ¶ 4(a)(i). Whether Respondent may establish a website and provide some free speech protected content related to the Complainant is beyond the scope of the UDRP. The UDRP proceeding focuses on how a website is identified and free speech rights do not override trademark rights in a manner that supports a protected mark’s misappropriation or confusing misuse.”

The panel ordered the domain name, astridmunoz.com, to be transferred to Astrid Munoz.