Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Man Named "Shell" Loses Domain To Oil Giant

Posted by timothy on from the spoiled-brats-with-lawyers dept.

angkor writes: "'A German court has ruled that oil giant Shell has more right to the www.shell.de internet domain name than an individual named Shell who had already registered the name.' It's like the old saying: your name may be McDonald, but you can't open a restaurant named McDonalds ..."

3 of 51 comments (clear)

  1. gotta love big corporations... by Blob+Pet · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "It's like the old saying: your name may be McDonald, but you can't open a restaurant named McDonalds ..."
    This guy wasn't trying to sell oil or gasoline. He "used shell.de as the homepage for a translation and publicity business."
    This just shows just how much more influence big companies have over governments than the rest of us - no matter what government.

    --
    "...today consumers have been conditioned to think of beer when they see a bullfrog..."
  2. But what do people want? by aozilla · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The domain name system is broken. The only way things like this are going to stop is to stop using the domain name system for websites. That's not what it was meant to be used for anyway.

    The .us allowing SLD names is just going to make matters worse. The way it stands, people generally use .us names to point to machines, not web sites, and even when they do use them for web sites, it's a fairly non-ambiguous name (serv1.shell.nyc.ny.us). The internet may be free, but big business has taken over the domain name system. If you don't want to play by their rules, get a nice third level domain for free from one of the many places offering them, such as dhs.org, and say the extra 4 characters next time you tell someone your website. Or perhaps even better (until we fix browsers to properly use DNS records), use a web forwarding service. dhs.org has one of those too.

    --
    ok then your [sic] infringing on my copyright! Could you as [sic] me next time before STEALING my comments for your own?
  3. The golden rule seems to apply by OeLeWaPpErKe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This may be a case of domain squatting

    When the Anglo-Dutch oil company tried to register shell.de as its website in May 1996, it discovered the name belonged to a firm that bought famous trade names and sold them on.

    On the other hand ...

    "The judge said everyone had the right to a website in their name, regardless of whether it was for business or personal use."

    However, this was meaningless if there was such a large gap between two interests claiming the name.

    The name Shell was well known, the judge said, and most customers would expect to find the firm's website at shell.de, not that of the individual.

    I hate to say it but this does sound as a valid point ...
    Isn't using www.AndreasShell.de or www.FamilyShell.de a fair compromise between the two parties ? This is probably what the judge hopes to accomplish ...