New Zealand Lotteries Commission v Zhang San [2017] NZDNC 1220

nz-lotto.nz - Transferred

The complainant is the New Zealand Lotteries Commission and owns the trade mark LOTTO NZ and LOTTO NEW ZEALAND. The respondent is the registrant of the domain name <nz-lotto.nz>. The domain name was registered on 29 March 2017, two days after the appearance of the complainant's new website. The websites were virtually identical and featured the same products, with the only difference being that the respondent's website described itself as "NZ Lotto", while the complainant's website described itself as "My Lotto".

The complainant submitted that the respondent copied the content from the complainant's operating website for a phishing site that is designed to steal login details.

LOTTO NZ / LOTTO NEW ZEALAND is a registered trade mark and is very similar to the domain name. The expert held that the domain name was unfair because it took advantage of and was unfairly detrimental to the complainant's rights, both at the time of registration and through use. The clear intent to create a phishing site by copying the complainant's content showed that the respondent planned to use the complainant's mark.

Link to NZLII Decision

http://www.nzlii.org/cgi-bin/sinodisp/nz/cases/NZDNC/2017/1220.html?query=NZDNC%201220