Wal-Mart and Union Fight Over Domain Names

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Two entities square off in Canada.

Wal-Mart CanadaWal-Mart Canada Corp. is squaring off against a union — in cyberspace. According to a story on Dow Jones Newswire, the retailer filed an injunction against United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) to try to stop them from using the domain name walmartworkerscanada.ca.

UFCW Canada national president Wayne Hanley said the injunction request is an assault on freedom of speech and its ability to communicate with Wal-Mart workers.

Maybe so, but UFCW apparently doesn’t have a problem using the same tactic to squash opposition. In 2005 the union lobbed a lawsuit at four former union members that left and formed a reform group. The reform group used the domain name ufcw.net for its cause, and the union prevailed in its fight.

Further Reading:

  1. Wal-Mart fights for domain names
  2. Domain Names First Salvo in UAW vs. Toyota Fight
  3. Walmart Challenges Non-Profit Over OurWalmart.org Domain Name

5 Comments » - Posted in Policy & Law by

Comments

  1. Latest Domainer News
    July 30th, 2009 | 9:13 am

    Wal-Mart and Union Fight Over Domain Names – http://tinyurl.com/kv2l47

  2. WakeUpWalmart
    July 30th, 2009 | 9:14 am

    RT @dnnews: Wal-Mart and Union Fight Over Domain Names – http://tinyurl.com/kv2l47

  3. Jeremy Leader
    July 30th, 2009 | 4:38 pm

    It’s not quite the same tactic. One could argue that walmartworkerscanada.ca might not be confused with an official Wal-Mart Canada site (because it explicitly mentions “workers” in the domain name). ufcw.net clearly could be confused with the domain name of an official UFCW site. A domain name such as ufcwreform.net would avoid that criticism. Now whether those differences are enough to lead to different outcomes, I don’t know.

  4. Bryan Walde
    August 10th, 2009 | 1:06 pm

    Being a UFCW member myself, I would normally side with any group challenging Walmart regarding the treatment of their employees, and the effects on their community. But in this case, Walmart is in the right when challenging the use of their brand in a domain name and website. The UFCW has no right to use the term Walmart in any way that could be confused with a legitimate company venture. To me, there is no room for argument here, even though I totally agree with the message and information put forth by the website.

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    May 19th, 2011 | 3:12 am

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