Apple claims victory over iTunes.co.uk

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Apple has won a legal dispute to force a UK firm it accused of cybersquatting to hand over the domain ownership for the iTunes.co.uk Web address.

Apple issued proceedings against CyberBritain in December last year through the UK domain registration authority Nominet, claiming ownership of the domain should be transferred to Apple because it holds the iTunes trademark.

CyberBritain CEO and former dot-com teenage millionaire Benjamin Cohen accused Apple of bullying tactics and said he had registered the iTunes.co.uk domain a month before Apple's trademark application was published back in December 2000 and some three years before its online music download service launched.

Cohen maintains his motives for registering the domain were innocent and that he turned down a cash offer from Apple for the domain as it could have been interpreted as intent to profit from Apple's trademark.

But the Nominet dispute resolution service has found in favour of Apple and ordered CyberBritain to hand over iTunes.co.uk.

Cohen said he is currently considering his next move, which may be an appeal either directly to Nominet or to the High Court. Until the appeal Cohen maintains he will continue to use iTunes.co.uk as a redirect to his own company's shopping Web site.

Talkback

So, now Nominet can hand over your domain, regardless of when it was registered, even when your name predates someone else's claim on trademark.

But, surely there cannot be registration of a trademark if someone else already uses it... especially when it is a combination of letters, as in this case.

Does this mean Apple and Microsoft can trademark anything they like the look of, and then have tell Nominet take away your domain.

Big business eh?

via Facebook 16 March, 2005 14:27
Reply

The expert's decision seems to have been based on the use which Ben Cohen made of the domain, with little emphasis being placed on his claim to have beaten Apple in the race to register it.

In fact, his whole case seems to be founded on the simple fact that he won the race to regsiter the domain.

He is not suggesting that he built a business around the domain and that buusiness is now going to be unfairly taken off him. In fact, the only value the domain has is that it can be ransomed to Apple.

BC has cited the Phone4U decision as being helpful, but I beleive that decision partly turned on the descriptiveness of the domain and I believe that the High Court, being fluent in trade mark law, will throw the case out even quicker than Nominet did.

via Facebook 31 March, 2005 16:17
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