Forceful response falls flat as Aston Martin wins case for AstonMartin.ai.
If there ever was a clearcut case of cybersquatting, registering AstonMartin.ai and listing it for sale would certainly qualify.
But that didn’t stop the person who registered this domain from putting up a spirited defense when Aston Martin filed a case against him.
First, the registrant argued that the carmaker doesn’t have a trademark in Anguilla, which is the country .ai is for.
The registrant also argued that Aston Martin should have tried to resolve the case without filing a cybersquatting dispute:
…the Complainant has brazenly sidestepped any attempt at amicable resolution by blindsiding the Respondent with baseless claims and a malicious attempt to wrest control of a domain name to which it holds no legitimate entitlement under the Policy. This Machiavellian maneuver is a clear indicator of the Complainant’s nefarious intent to harass and intimidate the Respondent through underhanded means.
The Respondent makes a lot of “vehement” assertions, including that:
- the Complainant’s assertions regarding confusion or misleading consumers are utterly baseless and bereft of any factual foundation
- the registration of the disputed domain name was not orchestrated with the intent to disrupt the Complainant’s business operations. Such allegations are nothing short of egregious attempts to malign the Respondent’s character and are categorically refuted.
Well, I’ll give their lawyer an A for forceful language.
The panelist unsurprisingly found in favor of Aston Martin and ordered the domain transferred.
Snoopy says
Wow, they had lawyer? Reading the comments made I assumed it was just some idiot representing themselves.
Andrew Allemann says
It certainly seemed like someone cut and pasted from other documents
Sme Scoop says
This is no fair judgement. This is business and Domain name is like the real estate of internet. Why didn’t Aston Martin register the domain earlier if they had the need for it? So, if I register AstonMartin.ng they’ll also take it away from me.
Let me understand something, so once someone trademarks a name, you can’t register any domain related to such name?
One needs to be aware of such laws so as not to waste money buying such domains.