Jean-Noël Frydman, who owned France.com from 1994 until 2018, wants the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in.
Jean-Noël Frydman hasn’t given up yet.
The businessman who registered France.com in 1994 has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider a dispute over the France.com domain name.
In 2014, Frydman’s company France.com, Inc. filed a lawsuit in Paris against a Dutch company alleging trademark infringement of France.com. The French Republic and its tourism agency, Atout France, intervened in the matter.
The French government convinced successive courts that the government — not someone in the U.S. — should own France.com. The government asserted the exclusive right to use the term “France” commercially, contending that under French law, the name “France” cannot be appropriated or used commercially by a private enterprise because doing so violates the French Republic’s exclusive right to its name and infringes on its sovereignty.
In 2018, the French government presented a copy of the Paris Court of Appeals decision over France.com to Web.com, and Web.com transferred the domain to it.
Frydman sued in U.S. court in 2018. The French government convinced the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that the French government has sovereign immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
Frydman petitioned the appeals court for en banc rehearing but was rejected.
Not deterred, Frydman has petitioned for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court.
It’s been a long fight for Frydman, but it’s not surprising given the incredible value of this domain name and the business he operated.
Fantastic news.
This is the potential SCOTUS case I was hoping for after reading about the case here on DNW; such an injustice against the France*com owner. The State of France violated the Paris Convention and the U.S. Courts the U.S.C. in their administrative theft of France*com.
A clear violation of the “Takings clause” as well.
This case will have an impact on par or greater than the Bookings*com case, if SCOTUS accepts the writ.
Good luck to Mr. Frydman.
What is SCOTUS?
SCOTUS= Supreme Court of the United States
If you ever seen POTUS, that’s President of the United States
@Andrew
Will you have Jean-Noel on for a follow-up interview?
Do you know if ICA will be adding an amicus brief to Mr. Frydman’s case?
I’ll consider it.
Regarding a brief, The Supreme Court hasn’t accepted the case.
https://lmgtfy.app/?q=SCOTUS
Good Luck to Jean-Noël. We all know the story how this name was handed over to French.
Interesting! Jean-Noel, who was an internet pioneer, was resourceful enough to grab the moniker france.com. He was hosting (across the street) my French-related business in the early days of “fast” internet connections. Mine, among other French-themed businesses. He was pouring out hundreds of dollars a month to get what is now a laughable amount of broadband width. His hope was that either the france.com address would eventually get him a multitude of French-related businesses to host for a business fee, or that as many (Sillicon Valley) others, he would receive an offer-he-could-not-refuse. Ultimately the only way to get a steady income of French-related business was to ally himself with the travel “industry”, albeit at a very basic level which required a huge amount of work and development. This was the site where one would find the one “gite” /bed-and-breakfast in the southwest of France no one had yet discovered.
Apparently “la Republique” decided not to give him the offer not to be refused. (Or did it?) Reading the history on the web, It seems a nation did not favor the entrepreneur born in its borders…
Lucien, your post brings so many memories from a quarter century ago! It was such an exciting time and it was fascinating to join a budding industry that ended up changing the whole world.
Developing France.com was hard work, to be sure, but incredibly exciting! You were a very early partner and witness of that effort, and I thank you for sharing that in this space.
I want to be perfectly clear: in this all ordeal France never made any offer for France.com and took it without and notice or compensation, and in violation of the French Appeals court’s decision.
And that’s why I have to keep fighting this. Had France acted legally throughout, I would still be the owner of France.com!
If you get a chance JN.
Take a look at the legal reasoning used by panelists in determining RDNH against the nation of New Zealand in their attempt to hijack from a registrant with a TM.
https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2002/d2002-0754.html
That case and the Barcelona.com Court case provide all the reasons why what is being have done to you is total injustice.
Good luck in your fight.