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WIPO does not swallow 'confusingly similar' claim
The world's largest retailer Wal-Mart has failed in its attempt to gain control of the web address boycottwalmart.com. An arbitration panel has ruled that it was unlikely that visitors would be confused and think that it was a Wal-Mart site.
Domain name disputes are settled by the arbitration panel of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). That body has ruled that Wal-Mart cannot have control of the disputed domain.
The domain is controlled by Traffic Yoon of South Korea, a company which put up no defence in the case. Wal-Mart argued that the domain name was "confusingly similar" to its own addresses, which is not permitted.
"Since [Wal-Mart's] mark is embedded in the disputed domain name, it is hard to say there is no similarity, but finding that the disputed domain name is similar to the Complainantâs marks is not sufficient," said the WIPO decision. "The critical question in this Panelâs view on this aspect of the Policy is whether the similarity is âconfusingâ."
rest of article
http://www.theregister.com/2006/10/16/wal-mart_loves_bitch_site_domain_claim/
The world's largest retailer Wal-Mart has failed in its attempt to gain control of the web address boycottwalmart.com. An arbitration panel has ruled that it was unlikely that visitors would be confused and think that it was a Wal-Mart site.
Domain name disputes are settled by the arbitration panel of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). That body has ruled that Wal-Mart cannot have control of the disputed domain.
The domain is controlled by Traffic Yoon of South Korea, a company which put up no defence in the case. Wal-Mart argued that the domain name was "confusingly similar" to its own addresses, which is not permitted.
"Since [Wal-Mart's] mark is embedded in the disputed domain name, it is hard to say there is no similarity, but finding that the disputed domain name is similar to the Complainantâs marks is not sufficient," said the WIPO decision. "The critical question in this Panelâs view on this aspect of the Policy is whether the similarity is âconfusingâ."
rest of article
http://www.theregister.com/2006/10/16/wal-mart_loves_bitch_site_domain_claim/
