Google vs. Googles.EU
In a recent case before the Arbitration Center for .EU Disputes, Google failed to gain control of the disputed domain name Googles.EU. Google had instructed its Irish subsidiary to file the case, presumably to meet registry rules that require .EU domain owners to be located in the European Union. However, the Google trademark is owned by the U.S. company, and the Irish subsidiary did not provide any documentation that would authorize it to act on behalf of Google USA. Therefore the case was rejected.
The defendant, even though his response turned out to be irrelevant, asserted that Google didn't have any rights to Googles.EU, primarily because "Google" doesn't equal "Googles" and because the GOOGLES trademark is registered to other unrelated companies.
It is likely that Google will simply refile the case with the required documentation. The fact that the defendant uses Googles.EU for a search-related website that interfaces with the actual Google search engine will likely be his downfall. He has even decorated the website with a logo that uncannily resembles the well-known Google logo, which could be a clear sign of "bad faith", one of the factors considered by the arbitration center when evaluating a case.
Thanks to DomainNews and DomainTools.
May 25th, 2007 at 9:18 am
[...] In a recent case before the Arbitration Center for .EU Disputes, Google failed to gain control of the disputed domain name Googles.EU. Google had instructed its Irish subsidiary to file the case, presumably to meet registry rules that require .EU domain owners to be located in the European Union. However, the Google trademark is owned by the U.S. company, and the Irish subsidiary did not provide any documentation that would authorize it to act on behalf of Google USA. Therefore the case was rejected. Whole story link: Google vs. Googles.EU [...]
Oct 3rd, 2007 at 10:41 am
[...] you’re going to put up porn on the site if they don’t buy it from you for $10,000,000. But for less clear cases, such as whether holding “www.Googles.eu” is a violation of Google’s trademark, the UDRP [...]
Jan 2nd, 2008 at 7:32 am
[...] you’re going to put up porn on the site if they don’t buy it from you for $10,000,000. But for less clear cases, such as whether holding “www.Googles.eu” is a violation of Google’s trademark, the UDRP [...]
Feb 25th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
[...] you’re going to put up porn on the site if they don’t buy it from you for $10,000,000. But for less clear cases, such as whether holding “www.Googles.eu” is a violation of Google’s trademark, the UDRP [...]