Barcelona tried to take over a domain in the .email zone

    Barcelona football club was denied a request to suspend the FCB.email domain as part of the URS procedure (quick suspension of a domain at the request of the copyright holder).

    The representative of Barcelona said that the club has a logo with the letters FCB, which in 2004 was registered as a figurative trademark. According to him, the defendant, using a combination of signs “FCB”, misleads many fans of “Barcelona”, attracting them to his website. He demanded the suspension of the domain due to the illegal use of the club’s trademark.


    The defendant objected that the FCB.email domain was created for fans of the German football team FC Bayern Monachium so that they could register their mailing addresses on it. Consequently, it could not be created to derive commercial benefits from the use of the Barcelona brand.

    Also, according to the URS rules, in order to suspend a domain on the basis of intellectual property rights, the plaintiff must be the owner of a verbal rather than a figurative trademark. Moreover, the abbreviation FCB itself is not a hallmark of any brand. For example, there is a Danish company FCB, registered in 1998 and several other organizations in other countries.

    Therefore, the commission did not find sufficient reasons to suspend the FCB.email domain and decided to refuse FC Barcelona's request.

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