Lebanese Internet domain registrants have been accused of abusing the Cable News Network (CNN)’s trademark to direct people to their web-based news services that competed directly with the American news conglomerate.
CNN prevailed in the largest single domain name dispute ever heard under the streamlined dispute policy established to prevent trademark abuses on the Internet. The case, administered by the National Arbitration Forum, involved 325 domain names containing some variation of the well-known CNN trademark.
In a forty-page decision a panel of three arbitrators ruled that the Lebanese business interests that registered the names did so in order to take advantage of confusion on the part of Internet users who would believe that sites with names such as cnn-canada.com, cnnlebanon.com, and cnnshoppingcenter.com were affiliated with the world famous news network.
The dispute was among hundreds heard each year by the National Arbitration Forum under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The domain name dispute process is a popular alternative to lengthy and expensive trademark lawsuits.
The National Arbitration Forum is the largest US-based provider of domain name dispute resolution services and is one of the world's largest neutral administrators of arbitration and mediation services, with a select panel of former judges and experienced senior attorneys providing dispute resolution worldwide. Founded in 1986, the Forum is headquartered in Minneapolis, with arbitrators located across the globe. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
