Daily Domainer

In a recent WIPO arbitration case, the owner of ShangriLa.com lost the domain to an Asian hotel group by the same name.

The panel in charge of the case noted that even though the expression "Shangri-La" had originated in a 1933 novel and has a dictionary meaning, the registrant had also registered the domain fourseason.com, allegedly a typo of fourseasons.com, which they took as proof that he was trying to profit off the trademarks of hotels in general.

Last not least, the registrant had failed to block Google ads for hotel booking services and agencies from automatically showing up on ShangriLa.com… more proof of his evil intentions.

There are some circular arguments in this decision and even the infamously editable Wikipedia is called to the witness stand. It's an important read for all domain owners as many lessons can be drawn from its contents.

The Daily Domainer is working on an article on how domainers can protect themselves from such attacks as well as from an arbitration panel that goes out of its way to please the "complainant". Subscribe to our free daily newsletter for more information.