March 12, 2013 at 07:54Procter & Gamble found guilty of attempted illegal seizure of a domain
Recently, details of a domain dispute have been published , according to which Procter & Gamble, one of the leaders in the global consumer goods market, was found guilty of an attempt to illegally seize a domain.
In November 2012, Procter & Gamble filed a cyber squatting complaint with WIPO requesting that it transfer the rights to Swash.com to it. The complaint was based on the fact that the plaintiff is the owner of the Swash trademark.
But when considering the complaint, it turned out that Marchex Sales, the owner of the Swash.com domain, registered it back in 2004, and the Swash trademark appeared only three years later.
Also, the complaint from Procter & Gamble contained an outright lie. The company wrote about Swash as a world-class brand. According to her, the volume of sales of products under this trademark over the past four years amounted to forty million dollars. But during the audit it was proved that the products of this brand were distributed only in the United States, and its total sales amounted to only $ 60,000.
Due to the plaintiff's false information, the WIPO Commission decided not only to deny Procter & Gamble the rights to the Swash domain. com, but also found her guilty of trying to illegally seize a domain.
This incident is unlikely to seriously affect the company's business at such a high level, but still the reputation of Procter & Gamble has been hit. If it turns out that the company plans to soon release a new product under the Swash brand, and before that decided to select the appropriate domain, the case may receive wider publicity.
In November 2012, Procter & Gamble filed a cyber squatting complaint with WIPO requesting that it transfer the rights to Swash.com to it. The complaint was based on the fact that the plaintiff is the owner of the Swash trademark.
But when considering the complaint, it turned out that Marchex Sales, the owner of the Swash.com domain, registered it back in 2004, and the Swash trademark appeared only three years later.
Also, the complaint from Procter & Gamble contained an outright lie. The company wrote about Swash as a world-class brand. According to her, the volume of sales of products under this trademark over the past four years amounted to forty million dollars. But during the audit it was proved that the products of this brand were distributed only in the United States, and its total sales amounted to only $ 60,000.
Due to the plaintiff's false information, the WIPO Commission decided not only to deny Procter & Gamble the rights to the Swash domain. com, but also found her guilty of trying to illegally seize a domain.
This incident is unlikely to seriously affect the company's business at such a high level, but still the reputation of Procter & Gamble has been hit. If it turns out that the company plans to soon release a new product under the Swash brand, and before that decided to select the appropriate domain, the case may receive wider publicity.