The Register reports that Wal-Mart has failed to gain control of boycottwalmart.com:
The panel ruled that Wal-Mart’s case could not stand because nobody finding the website boycottwalmart.com would imagine that the site belonged to the retailer.
“This panel is of the view that members of the public wishing to find a website associated with the Complainant would not be confused as to whether the Complainant owned or operated the website at ‘www.boycottwalmart.com’,” said its decision. “It would be perfectly clear to anyone who recognized the Complainant’s trademarks that the disputed domain name would not resolve to a site used by the Complainant to promote its own goods or services.”
“Accordingly, the Panel finds that ‘boycottwalmart.com’ is neither identical nor confusingly similar to the trademark “Wal-mart” nor any proven variants of that mark,” it ruled.
This seems like a sensible decision. This is a recurring issue in Internet governance. Perhaps the most famous example was the eToys/etoy dispute of the dot-com era. It was strangely appropriate when eToys subsequently went down in flames, while etoy appears to be alive and kicking (I have to admit I have no idea what etoy actually does).
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