Al-Jazeera TV can not acquire aljazeera.com, WIPO says.

Helmi Noman

Aljazeera Space Channel TV lost a case to acquire the domain name aljazeera.com from its current owner Al-Jazeera Publishing, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ruled July 19, 2005.

The TV Channel whose web sites are www.aljazeera.net and english.aljazeera.net has complained to WIPO Arbitration and Media Center that the previously unknown Al-Jazeera Publishing acquired in bad faith the domain aljazeera.com which is confusingly identical to its trademarks, and that the Al-Jazeera Publishing has not been using the domain name for a bona fide purpose, as it is operating a site portraying itself to be the same entity as the Al-Jazeera Space Channel. To prove confusion, Al-Jazeera TV made use of an article I published previous in which I indicated that a BBC Web story mistakenly links to aljazeera.com instead of aljazeera.net.

Al-Jazeera Publishing argued that the filing and registration of the Al-Jazeera TV’s trademarks are dated after 2000, long after the registration of the domain name on April 12, 1996. “The Complainant’s organization did not even exist at the time the domain name was registered”, Al-Jazeera Publishing said.

While Al-Jazeera TV tried to prove that there is “bad faith” behind operating aljazeera.com, the 3-member panel appointed by WIPO had a different opinion. They said in their decision that the complaint by Al-Jazeera TV “was brought in bad faith and constitutes an abuse of the Administrative Proceeding”.

Anecdotal evidences suggest that the Al-Jazeera TV Web site has contributed to diverting some online traffic from its web site to the .com look-a-like Web site. Visitors to the TV Web site who did not type the www in the domain used to get an error message and as a result some online visitors switched to aljazeera.com believing that the .net domain was not available. This self-inflicted online "injury" had significantly contributed to the online confusion in the past.

Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center was established in 1994 to offer Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) options, in particular arbitration and mediation, for the resolution of international commercial disputes between private parties.

Comments

[Hussam Saleem]

This is amazing! To me, the case sounds like a piece of cake for aljazeera TV but I guess their lawyers did not do a good job presenting the case.

[Steve England]

I don't understand this! It is too clear that the .com is trying to blackmail the .net

When I saw the advertisement for the "Control Room" on the .com, I knew immediately that they are blackmailing the .net!

[Andrew Scott-Lee]

This is justice, why should the TV station bully a legitimate smaller magazine publisher around. Domain registration is first come first served. if you actually read the case notes you'll see aljazeera.com belongs to aljazeera magazine who have operated since 1992 (4 years before the tv station).

A quick visit to aljazeera.com the reader will quickly notice aljazeera magazine plastered everyewhere, even the about us states they are not associated with the tv station..what more can aljazeera publishing do??

Aljazeera refers to the Arabic Pennensulia, it is hardly a unique word, it has been around for 100's of years and there are 1000's of aljazeera's around, from aljazeera newspaper to aljazeera rent-a-car.

Well done WIPO with this decision to stop corporate abuse and attempted theft.

[Rami]

I agree that the case is one of the good decisions for WIPO. I know well the law firm that represented them. In fact Jazeera came to another intellectual property firm before approaching this firm. You have mentioned not clearly that Jazeera not only lost the case, but it was engaged in reverse domain name hijacking since they knew that the complainant has rights and they still, filled the case. Jazeera was going to file another case, but they were waiting this decision and now they will think many times before filling a new one. Also, they may approach international law firm not a national law firm since they did not do a good job. It is not easy to win a case before the WIPO arbitration and medication center, the trademark owner must establish that the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to its trademark, the respondent has no rights and he registered the domain name in bad faith. If each of these elements fail, the complaint fail as well.

[Dr. Qais Al-Tameemi]

Well, this is one of the most important and controvertial issues that has to be dealt with seriously especially at this time of the Diffusion of Communications Technologies worlwide. I believe that both parties have the right to have a website demain name under their names as they wish to. But, this issue can be solved easily and without "firing guns" on each other. Since Aljazeera Publishing has had the domain name prior to the existence of Al-Jazeera TV Channel, therefore, the first, AP (i.e., Aljazeera Publishing) has the right to have the website domain as its website address (Aljazeera.com). The later (a.k.a., Al-jazeera TV Channel), however, could have almost the same disputed website address with a little cahnge in the address. For example, http://www.AljazeeraQ.com where Aljazeera is the name of the satelliet TV Channel, Q is the first letter of the name of the State of Qatar, and .com is the Internet Domain/company.
At any rate, it is up to both parties to solve the problem and what I came up with was no more or less than a suggestion that might work well for both sides of the argument in the long run.