Religare Health Insurance Company Limited v. Name Administration Inc.: A Case of Domain Dispute and RDNH Analysis

In the WIPO Case No. D2019-2073, Religare Health Insurance Company Limited from India filed a complaint against Name Administration Inc., a company in Grand Cayman, over the domain name ‘carehealthinsurance.com’. The complaint was filed on August 23, 2019. Religare, holding several trademarks in India, claimed the domain name was confusingly similar to its trademarks, alleging bad faith registration and use by Name Administration Inc.

However, the domain name, registered on August 12, 2015, was deemed to consist of descriptive terms (‘care’, ‘health’, ‘insurance’), commonly used in the insurance industry. The WIPO panel, comprising Willem J. H. Leppink, Harini Narayanswamy, and Richard G. Lyon, found no evidence that Name Administration Inc. was aware of Religare or its Indian trademarks when registering the domain name. The panel also noted that the domain name’s pay-per-click links did not specifically target Religare. Consequently, Religare’s claim for bad faith registration was not substantiated.

Despite the resemblance between Religare’s business name and the domain name, the majority of the panel did not find the complaint to be filed in bad faith or an abuse of administrative proceedings, thus not constituting Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH). Panelist Richard G. Lyon, however, disagreed, expressing in his concurring opinion that the complaint should have been recognized as an abuse of the process, citing the lack of prefiling investigation and the baselessness of the complaint.

The decision, made on November 29, 2019, highlights the importance of due diligence and the recognition of generic terms in domain name disputes. The case underlines that not all resemblances, especially with common or descriptive terms, warrant a claim of bad faith registration and use under the UDRP policies.

In the WIPO Case No. D2019-2073, Religare Health Insurance Company Limited from India filed a complaint against Name Administration Inc., a company in Grand Cayman, over the domain name ‘carehealthinsurance.com’. The complaint was filed on August 23, 2019. Religare, holding several trademarks in India, claimed the domain name was confusingly similar to its trademarks, alleging…