April 19, 2006

First .eu dispute resolution

A and B are both legitimate holders of the trademark PST (A's mark is made of a logo and a word, B's of a word only). A registered the trademark in 2000. B registered it more recently. To A, it is obvious that B registered its PST trademark after the 2004 EC Regulation on principles governing .eu domain names registrations, to be able to register pst.eu. A filed an opposition against B's trademark before the Benelux Merkenbureau.
A and B filed an application for the registration of pst.eu, on December 7, 2005. B was awarded the name, because its application arrived earlier than A's.
A challenged the .eu Registry's decision to grant the name to B. It filed an ADR procedure before the Arbitration Center for .eu disputes. Its complaint is of course denied, in the first published .eu ADR decision (case #0035). The Regulation clearly states that a domain name shall be allocated for use to the eligible party whose request has been received first by the Registry in the technically correct manner and in accordance with this Regulation.

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