November 04, 2004

It can be legitimate to use a third party's trademark in a domain name

The use of Lonely Planet in lonelyplanetexchange.com can be valid, because:
- The respondent was to place a disclaimer on every page of the site, in a prominent position on the first screen of each page, as follows: “This site is not in any way connected with, or endorsed by Lonely Planet Publications, the publishers of Lonely Planet guide books. Click here to visit the official Lonely Planet site.” The hyperlink was to be to the Complainant’s website at lonelyplanet.com"
- This domain name resolved to a website which functioned as a platform for the exchange of used or second-hand traveler’s guides
[Decision]

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i won the above case because lonely planet publications had entered into contractual agreement in the earlier days of the domain.

at a later date, they decided they wanted it back, refered to WIPO, whom i referred to previous contract with the complainants.

without the existance of the contract, it is likely lp would have succeeded in gaining the domain from me.

don't count on disclaimers saving your skin, don't register a domain incorporating someone elses trademark unless you can prove that you have done so i 'good faith'..