Paris Hilton, a celebrity and heiress to the Hilton fortune, has filed a dispute with the WIPO over the domain paris-hilton-perfume.net. She contends that the domain violates the “Paris Hilton” trademark.

This dispute was more than likely filed by one of Paris Hilton’s legal representatives. This is a good thing, as the star has often been a subject of ridicule for her lack of intelligence. The name is owned by Troy Rushton, who registered it on March 31, 2010. I don’t think he has much of a case to defend his use of the name and the registrant will probably lose the dispute.

On a side note, Hilton was briefly detained at a Corsica airport this weekend for possession of cannabis.

Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: Paris Hilton files domain dispute

In a huge victory for Verizon, the company has won a dispute it filed with the National Arbitration Forum over the domain VerizonWireless.com. The company markets itself as “Verizon Wireless,” so having this name is very valuable.

This case is interesting because the arbitration panel ruled that the domain was being used in bad faith because it had no content. The respondent (domain owner) also failed to respond to the complaint.

Respondent is not making an active use of the domain name as the disputed domain name resolves to a website displaying only a “Network Error” message and no original content. The Panel finds that Respondent’s failure to actively use the disputed domain name indicates bad faith registration and use .

It wouldn’t surpise me if the arbitration panel was biased towards Verizon to begin with. People reserve domains all the time without adding the content to them. Of course, one could also argue that is more fair for Verizon to have the name because it actually plans on using it.

Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: Verizon wins control of VerizonWireless.com

Charter Communications, an American ISP and cable company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009, lost an arbitration dispute this week over the name charterbusiness.com.

Charter claimed the domain violated a number of its trademarks and alleged that the owner was using it in bad faith because. The name at one point contained a parked page with a few Charter-related links.

The firm failed to include in its original dispute filing that it had a trademark on “Charter Business Networks,” however. Though it included this information later on, the arbitration panel did not take it into consideration.

Because Charter made such a poor case, it lost the dispute. The panel did not believe sufficient evidence existed for a bad faith ruling.

Continue reading: Cable giant Charter loses domain dispute

Usually big companies win domain disputes. In this instance, however, French publisher Editions Milan tried to abuse the WIPO domain arbitration system and ended up screwing itself over in the process.

It all started when American soldier Steve Hill registered kokeshi.com in 2001. He registered the single-keyword domain because of his interest in Japanese kokeshi dolls. In 2009, Editions Milan began publishing a series of children’s books called ‘Kokeshi.’

You can probably see by now where this is going. The French company wanted the domain. Although it does own the trademark to ‘Kokeshi,’ the mark only applies to books and CDs. After Hill refused the company’s $1,500 offer to buy the name, the publisher filed a dispute with the WIPO.

Pointing out that the firm’s trademark did not extend to his doll-related domain and that the company cannot monopolize generic words, the WIPO ruled in favor of the American serviceman. Adding insult to injury, the arbitrator declared the company guilty of reverse domain hijacking for its abusive behavior.

It’s always nice to see the little guy win. You can read the full case documents here.

Source | DN Journal
Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: French publisher loses domain dispute

After filing a complaint with the National Arbitration Forum, Microsoft has won control of the domain xboxonline.com. The Redmond company claimed the owner registered the name in bad faith and that its use violated Microsoft’s trademark on “XBox.”

It’s no surprise that the NAF agreed with Microsoft. The company further alleged that the registrant was using the name to sell Xbox-related goods, which Microsoft says were heavily advertised and sold in high volumes around the word. The registrant failed to respond to the complaint.

This is a big victory for Microsoft. A lot of companies have domain names containing product named followed by “online,” so the name xboxonline looks very legitimate. Its use by a third party likely confused many consumers.

Microsoft won a similar dispute with the NAF earlier this month involving 18 Xbox domains.

Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: Microsoft wins xboxonline.com domain

Yahoo’s Flickr.com is the most popular photo sharing site online, but for years the site has been missing out on traffic from users who misspelled the name as “Flicker.com.” According to changes in the name’s WHOIS records, Yahoo now has control over it.

According to technology news site Softpedia, acquiring the name was a bit of a challenge for Yahoo. It originally offered the owner $600,000 USD, only to be refused. Intent on getting the name, it filed an anti-cybersquatting lawsuit against the owner, despite having no merit for doing so. The company and domain owner reportedly settled out of court soon after.

Yahoo has yet to redirect the name or make any changes. According to information displayed on the site, the domain receives 3.6 million unique visitors per year.

Continue reading: Yahoo obtains Flicker.com domain

Apple won an important victory with the WIPO this week after it was given control of the name itunes.com.mx. I’m sure Cupertino lost quite a bit Mexican traffic to this domain and owning it will help it protect the Apple brand. The company is also the first multinational corporation to fight for a .mx name.

In addition, world-famous Gucci won the domain gucciwell.com at the WIPO. The company claimed the name violated its trademark and was being used to sell competing products. The registrant denied this, but sent his response one day past the deadline. Protecting domain rights is especially important for companies like Gucci because trademarked domains can be used to dupe customers into buying counterfeit merchandise.

Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: Apple, Gucci win domain disputes

Ed Teal, a Republican candidate in the Marshall County, Alabama Sheriff’s election, has filed a cybersquatting lawsuit against his opponent, Sheriff Chief Deputy Doug Gibbs. He alleges that the incumbent purposely registered some 19 domains, such as VoteEdTeal.com and EdTealforSheriff.com, to hinder his use of the Internet in the election.

A statement issued by Teal here (grammatical errors included) explains more about the lawsuit. Following the advice of his attorneys, Gibbs has refused to comment on the case.

Marshall County is a rural area with a population of only 82,231. Fourteen percent of its population lives below the poverty line. It’s interesting to see that domains are a major issue of contention even in the most far-flung of places.

Source | WAFF
Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: Candidate in Sheriff's election files cybersquatting lawsuit

Facebook has filed a dispute with the WIPO over the domain Facebook.me, which is currently owned by UAE citizen Amjad Abbas. This is just one of many ccTLDs the site has gone after lately.

Interestingly, the name’s current owner has it redirecting to Facebook.com. Why he would do is unclear to me. It just emphasizes the fact that he is infringing on the company’s trademark. Maybe Abbas thought Facebook wouldn’t pursue a case against him if he redirected the name to the social networking site?

Either way, the registrant will very likely lose this dispute.

Continue reading: Facebook initiates dispute over Facebook.me

When company Transure Enterprise registered baylorcme.com and fansofbaylor.com and offered them to Baylor University for $500, the last thing it probably expected was to end up in an arbitration dispute.

Because the Waco, Texas, university has a trademark for “Baylor University,” it took the cybersquatter to the National Arbitration Forum. The arbitrator considered the cybersquatting to be bad faith domain use and ordered that the two names be transferred to the university.

In related news, Lacoste also won a domain dispute this week at the WIPO over the name lacosteshopsale.com.

Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: Baylor takes down cybersquatter

French fashion house Chanel has won a dispute filed with the WIPO covering five domains: chanelbagsale.com, chanelbageshop.com, chanelhandbags.org, chanel-sale.com, and chanelsale.net.

Naturally, the company contended that the names violated its trademark and were being used in bad faith. The registrant failed to respond to these allegations.

Personally, I don’t even think these names are “chic” enough for Chanel. Would anyone honestly believe such a recognized name would legitimately use chanelhandbags.org? I doubt there was any consumer confusion here. But maybe Chanel was more concerned that the domains could be used to sell counterfeit products.

Source | Domain News
Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: Chanel sweeps up five domains in dispute

German file hosting site RapidShare has filed a domain dispute to take control of six domains containing the term “rapidshare.”

This is rather ironic because intellectual property advocates have attacked the site in the past for hosting pirated content, but now the 35th-most-visited site is trying to protect its own intellectual property.

Regardless of RapidShare’s controversial content, I think the site has an excellent chance at winning the domains. They not only contain its trademarked term, but link to a number of its competitors. This is bad faith use at its finest.

Continue reading: RapidShare makes haste in case against cybersquatters