Skype affiliate can keep Skyp.com

A man who uses the domain name skyp.com to redirect visitors to skype.com may keep this name. The WIPO expert took into account the fact that the respondent is an affiliate of the complainant:

After reviewing all of the proof provided by the Complainant and the Respondent, the Panel finds it established that the Respondent has been allowed – on several occasions – to insert a hyperlink on his website to the Complainant’s website within the scope of different affiliation programs. The fact that an announcer expressly accepts – as in this case – that an affiliate becomes part of an affiliation program hyperlinking to the announcer’s website may, according to this Panel, be considered as an authorization/permission to use the Domain Name. The Complainant, by accepting the Respondent as an affiliate, could perhaps be regarded as having recognized the rights and/or legitimate interests of the Respondent in the Domain Name.

[D2005-1112]