Facebook has just won two domain names via WIPO one which really is obvious FacebookGhana.com… What were they thinking when they bought that domain name however the second domain appears to be just a typo domain Fracebook.com and while the report below notes that Above.com owned the domain name, it actually appears that the domain name was registered at Above.com however it is owned by someone linked to this email account interwebb@hushmail.com – The owner of that account appears to own lots of Typo domain names.
Here is the story below.
Facebook wins two trademark disputes
Geneva | 24 August 2015Facebook has successfully recovered two domains that illegally incorporated and misused its trademark.
The social networking site secured the return of facebookghana.com and fracebook.com through arbitration proceedings at the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Center.
Facebook filed the first complaint against the registrar of the domain facebookghana.com, Naija Host, on 19 June.
The disputed domain was registered in January 2011, and hosted a social networking site called Ghana Nation.
Facebook held that Naija Host had no legitimate interest in the domain name, and the addition of the country name ‘Ghana’ increased the confusing similarity between it and the Facebook trademark.
The domain name “identically reproduces its trademark,” and “is creating a false association with Facebook”, the social network platform argued.
Sole panellist Christopher Gibson agreed with Facebook, finding that Naija Host was using the domain to intentionally attract, for commercial gain, internet users by creating a likelihood of confusion. The domain was transferred to Facebook on 14 August.
In a separate case against registrar Above.com over the domain fracebook.com, Facebook held that the domain was registered in bad faith.
Facebook filed its complaint on 6 July, holding that the disputed domain was both confusingly similar to its trademark. It also argued that the domain redirects users to a website hosting a survey about Facebook offering users €50 to the “winner”.
Facebook claimed that the domain was being used in bad faith and Above.com “must have been aware of the Facebook brand”.
Sole panellist Andrea Jaeger-Lenz transferred the domain to Facebook after finding the name was being used in bad faith and Above.com was “undoubtedly receiving financial gain from the redirect and display of advertisements”.