Google Wins Cyber Squatting Case*

Details

Case Code : CLIT008
Publication date : 2009
Subject : IT and Systems
Industry : -
Length : 02 Pages
Price : Rs. 100

To download this case click on the button below, and select the case from the list of available cases:

» IT and Systems Short Case Studies
» IT and Systems Case Studies**
» Case Studies Collection
» ICMR Courseware
» View Detailed Pricing Info

Key words:

Cyber law, cyber squatting, trademark laws, Intellectual Property, intellectual property rights, IPR, trademark, World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO, Arbitration and Mediation Centre, Google


* This caselet is intended for use only in class discussions.
** More comprehensive case studies are priced at Rs.200 to Rs.700 (US $5 to US $16) per copy.

 

Abstract:

In 2009, Internet software company Google Inc. won a cyber squatting case against an Indian teenager who had registered a domain name googblog.com. The domain name, Google contended, was confusingly similar to its trademark. Experts felt that complaints regarding cyber squatting were on the rise and organizations such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) were being approached by trademark holders to resolve such disputes.

Introduction On May 15, 2009, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ordered an Indian teenager, Herit Shah (Shah), who had been using the domain name 'googblog.com', to transfer the rights of the domain to Google Inc. (Google). Industry observers viewed this as a case of cyber squatting, and said that Google had been able to successfully defend its intellectual property rights (IPR). According to WIPO, there had been a rise in allegations of cyber squatting by trademark holders in 2008. Cyber squatting was the practice of "deliberate bad faith registration as domain of well-known trademarks in the hope of being able to sell the domain to the owners of those marks (or rivals' owners) or simply to take unfair advantage of the reputation attached to those marks" . Experts believed that cyber squatting was one of the most debatable issues in the field of cyber law.

In countries like India, where there was an absence of relevant cyber laws to prevent this practice, such cases were decided within the ambit of trademark laws. WIPO's Arbitration and Mediation Center was in the process of developing an online Internet-based system for administering commercial disputes involving intellectual property...

Case Studies on Related Topics

1.Pfizer's Intellectual Property Rights Battles in China for Viagra

2.The Ugg Boot Controversy in Australia

3.Ranbaxy's Patent Litigations in the United States