Lost in Translation: We Need To Talk About Pine Needle

("Complainant, supported by a Korean translator, claims that the word for "pine needle" in Korea transcribes as "solyp", not "solypf". The President of Complainant’s South Korean distributor offers four transcriptions of the Korean word for pine needle, none of which is "solypf".")

Case: D2001-0741

Domain(s): repsolypf.com

Complainant: Repsol YPF, S.A.

Respondent: COMn.com

The Defense:

Respondent (and its owner, Mr. Ko) is Korean. Respondent conducts business activities in the country of Korea. In the Korean language, the word "solypf" means "pine needle". In Korea it is common to use an extract of solypf to be added to drinking water to provide a refreshing beverage. In the Korean language, the word "rep" is commonly used as an abbreviation for the word "representative". Therefore, the combination of the word "rep" and the word "solypf" means "representative of pine needle" or "about pine needle". Confirmation of the translation of the word "solypf" is provided in Exhibit A to the Response, which displays a statement from a professional interpretation and translation company named Tradecall. The statement certifies that the word "solypf" is pronounced the same as the Korean word for pine needle. The statement of the translator includes the website and telephone number of the translator for verification purposes. Additional proof that the pronunciation of the word "solypf" means "pine needle" in Korean is provided in Exhibit B to the Response. This Exhibit contains the signed statements of ten Koreans who attest that the pronounced word "solypf" means "pine needle" in Korean. In addition to their signatures, their telephone numbers are provided for verification purposes.

Respondent made demonstrable preparations to prepare a website for the purpose of describing the benefits of the use of pine needle extract in drinking water. The logical name for a website of this nature was "Repsolypf" (about pine needle).