Bausch & Lomb Incorporated successfully challenged the registration of the domain name preservisions.site, which was held by a private individual, 柳传榜 (liu chuan bang). In this UDRP proceeding, the eye care leader asserted that the domain was an unauthorized appropriation of its famous PreserVision trademark, a brand synonymous with clinically proven eye vitamin formulas. Bausch & Lomb argued that the registrant had no permission to use the name and was leveraging the brand’s global reputation to attract internet traffic to a site that lacked any genuine connection to the company or its products.
The Logic Behind the Domain Transfer
The decision to transfer the domain was based on the clear overlap between the trademark and the disputed web address. Because the domain simply added a plural “s” to the well-known product name, it created a high likelihood that consumers would mistake the site for an official Bausch & Lomb resource. The registrant had no known rights to the name “PreserVision” and was not commonly known by that moniker. Furthermore, the evidence indicated that the domain was registered with full knowledge of the existing brand, as the PreserVision mark had been used extensively in commerce for decades before the domain was created. By using a distinctive and specialized pharmaceutical mark without authorization, the registrant demonstrated an intent to disrupt the brand owner’s business and potentially profit from the resulting diverted web traffic.
Evidence of Brand Exploitation
The registrant’s choice of the “.site” extension combined with a flagship product name suggests a calculated effort to capture users searching for eye health supplements. Because the registrant provided no evidence of a legitimate non-commercial or fair use of the domain, the registration appeared designed solely to exploit the commercial magnetism of the Bausch & Lomb brand. This type of registration prevents the rightful trademark owner from reflecting their brand in a specific top-level domain, creating a barrier between the company and its customers.
Strategic Protection of Pharmaceutical Marks
For healthcare and e-commerce companies, this case serves as a reminder that brand protection must extend across all new generic top-level domains. Even minor modifications to a trademark, such as changing a singular word to a plural, are insufficient to bypass the protections afforded to established brands. Proactive enforcement is essential to ensure that third parties do not dilute the trust associated with medical and nutritional products.
If your brand is facing similar challenges with unauthorized domain registrations, the ClaimOn team can assist you in developing an enforcement strategy to reclaim your intellectual property and secure your digital presence.
