4 ms·

So the case came down to violating French trademark law. That's because country names cannot be trademarked internationally ( and why tourist agencies register

So the case came down to violating French trademark law. That's because country names cannot be trademarked internationally ( and why tourist agencies register names like Visit<country> ) So it's not clear why Web.com even responded to the complaint unless they have a presence in France. Or was the risk that it could have been escalated to a European level of penalty?

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
cornholio 9y ago
If country names cannot be trademarked, that makes the french government's case even weaker, according to WIPO rules - the international body tasked with untangling domain name disputes that fall outside national jurisdiction, like the .com hierarchy. Using a domain name in bad faith against an established trademark are both necessary conditions to seize a domain name. If the term is generic, it cannot be trademarked. There is also beyond dispute that it was used in good faith.
- johnchristopher 9y ago
  I haven't seen this mentioned yet in the thread but France.fr is a relatively new website for the promotion of tourism in France. Big part of their prospects is worlwide.
tripletao 9y ago
That part of the story seems severely underexplained to me. Web.com doesn't seem to have any marketing content not in English, so their EU business is probably small compared to this reputational hit. Concern that France would eventually get to them through their payment processors and banks, if the EU takes its cue from the USA in applying extraterritorial law? (Link to GDPR enforcement debate here...) I guess this means we should all ask our registrars what countries' court orders they'll abide by? What happens if Maduro has a Venezuelan court order seizing DolarToday.com?
- casefields 9y ago
  It's because someone screwed up big time and when journalists started calling their lawyers told them to shut up.
zouhair 9y ago
So if France Gall[0] created the website she would have been stripped too? France is a relatively common name[1] in France. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_Gall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_Gall [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_(name) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_(name)
- xaldir 9y ago
  There is a famous precedent with milka.fr https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milka_contre_Kraft_Foods https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milka_contre_Kraft_Foods tldr : a woman named Milka bought the domain for her own business and used it for a while before Kraft foods noticed it. Lawsuit followed, big business won.
  - breakingcups 9y ago
    And nissan.com In this case, big business hasn't won yet: http://www.digest.com/Big_Story.php http://www.digest.com/Big_Story.php

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

cornholio 9y ago

If country names cannot be trademarked, that makes the french government's case even weaker, according to WIPO rules - the international body tasked with untangling domain name disputes that fall outside national jurisdiction, like the .com hierarchy. Using a domain name in bad faith against an established trademark are both necessary conditions to seize a domain name. If the term is generic, it cannot be trademarked. There is also beyond dispute that it was used in good faith.

johnchristopher 9y ago
I haven't seen this mentioned yet in the thread but France.fr is a relatively new website for the promotion of tourism in France. Big part of their prospects is worlwide.

tripletao 9y ago

That part of the story seems severely underexplained to me. Web.com doesn't seem to have any marketing content not in English, so their EU business is probably small compared to this reputational hit. Concern that France would eventually get to them through their payment processors and banks, if the EU takes its cue from the USA in applying extraterritorial law? (Link to GDPR enforcement debate here...) I guess this means we should all ask our registrars what countries' court orders they'll abide by? What happens if Maduro has a Venezuelan court order seizing DolarToday.com?

casefields 9y ago
It's because someone screwed up big time and when journalists started calling their lawyers told them to shut up.

zouhair 9y ago

So if France Gall[0] created the website she would have been stripped too? France is a relatively common name[1] in France. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_Gall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_Gall [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_(name) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_(name)

xaldir 9y ago
There is a famous precedent with milka.fr https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milka_contre_Kraft_Foods https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milka_contre_Kraft_Foods tldr : a woman named Milka bought the domain for her own business and used it for a while before Kraft foods noticed it. Lawsuit followed, big business won.
- breakingcups 9y ago
  And nissan.com In this case, big business hasn't won yet: http://www.digest.com/Big_Story.php http://www.digest.com/Big_Story.php