City files UDRP and doesn’t even meet the “confusingly similar” test.
The city of Paris (Ville de Paris) continues to have trouble understanding trademarks and domain name law.
It just lost another domain name dispute, this time for permislib.net.
In this case, the panel found that Permislib.net wasn’t confusingly similar to any mark in which the complainant was claiming rights. Through a partnership, the city has a service called Autolib. But autolib and permislib aren’t very similar.
Paris has a long history of badgering domain name owners. It once convinced a rogue panelist to transfer the domain name Parvi.org in a UDRP. That decision was overturned in a U.S. court and Ville de Paris was found to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking.
The city has also gone after anyone with Paris in their domain names, including Paris.com, Paris.tv and even WifiParis.com.
UDRPs in lieu of dueling … Living up to stereotypes a point of honor.
Give it a few years. If and when ICANN moves from Los Angeles to a city like Brussels or Paris, the game changes. We are fortunate both ICANN and Verisign are currently located in the US.
@Michael Castello,
There’s some truth in that. Much as I admire the French, for instance, they have a long history of governing labels and even language itself by fiat. Not conducive to freewheeling domain traders.
What difference would that make?
The Complainant and the Respondent were both French.
The UDRP Panelist who decided the case is French.
The registrar was German, so the UDRP Mutual Jurisdiction would either have been France or Germany.
How does the location of ICANN figure into it?
To fully appreciate how absolutely stupid the City of Paris is, notice that they went after permislib.net with a UDRP and, as of today, they did not even bother to register this “valuable mark” in their own .paris TLD.
Reflect on that for a moment. They operate their OWN TLD, and don’t bother to register a name for which they spent thousands of dollars going after in .net.
Breathtakingly stupid.
Ah, but this kind of brand protection is not a rational calculus. Pros / cons, cost / benefit, wisdom / stupidity have nothing to do with it.
It’s a chivalrous defense of the lady’s honor. Some rapscallion must register the affront, first of all. High-minded Parisians who want a righteous brawl can’t get one by preempting altercations. Dignity and identity cannot exist without chest-thumping.
As a registry they can block it without registering; making a registration costs ICANN fees and either one of 100 slots or a registrar handling fee.
I almost want to register “paris” names, just for the fun of seeing what comes out of it.