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Apple Threatens iTunes.co.uk Owner
derxob writes "According to The Register, Apple has accused Benjamin Cohen, the 'dotcom millionare' of being a 'cybersquatter.' He registered ITunes.co.uk on Nov. 7 2000, and Apple trademarked ITunes on Dec. 8, 2000. They have taken him to the UK registry Nominet and are demanding that he give up the domain."
RTFA, he registered it before Apple even thought about creating iTunes and he did use it to redirect to his search engine.
nominet doesn't allow you to cybersquat and then sell your domain for money.
"In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell
Filing / First Use Date is What Really Counts ...
. htm
... that's before Nov-07-2000 - and according to the UK Patent Office website, the database updates weekly; perhaps it didn't back then, but my guess is he knew about Apple's intended use and/or pending TM application(s).
q ue sted=C&trademark=2249936
... 6-figure sum USD/GBP wouldn't surprise me.
The UK Patent Office - Trade marks - Database
http://www.patent.gov.uk/tm/dbase/index
Filed Oct-24-2000
http://webdb4.patent.gov.uk/tm/number?detailsre
Being that he's a millionaire, Apple's TM claims appear weak (my layman's opinion based upon my own experiences in domain name speculation), and he is determined to fight, Apple may eventually choose to settle for some decent size amount
Ron Bennett
That sentence doesn't make sense. The DNS system isn't case sensitive. You must mean itunes.com was registered in 1998.
The definition of squatting {in the traditional sense} is occupying a place that someone else has vacated. Under English law, the lions share of the rights associated with land and buildings belong with the occupier, as distinct from the owner -- a throwback to feudal times no doubt, but a valid protection measure against excesses of authority by absentee landlords. "An Englishman's Home is his Castle" -- and it's your home if you live there, regardless who owns the building or the land on which it stands. {As an aside, when I was buying my house, things were moving a bit slowly and I was technically homeless for one night. I spent that night in my new place. Legally, I was a squatter; but the only person in the world who could have got myself evicted without a court order, was me!}
..... Cohen could even possibly have their trademark invalidated! However, if I were Cohen, and the judge ruled in my favour and against Apple, I'd settle for a printout of the iTunes source code ..... with this document stapled to it .....
The practice of "cybersquatting" originally referred to re-registering expired domain names which used to have belonged to businesses, and linking them to sites with which the former registrant probably would not wish to be associated, in the hope that the former registrant will pay you not to do it {as opposed to just launching a DoS against your new host}.
Cohen registered the itunes.co.uk site before Apple even trademarked "iTunes" in the UK; so it's arguable that Apple are in the wrong
PS. I visited the itunes.co.uk site and it has an intrusive registration with a drop-down box for "gender" -- but only gives the options "male" and "female". Where's "other" when you need it?!
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
...and the fact that the registration for this site preceded macs trademarking of itunes...
Jesus, when will people get a clue and stop making this mistake? Mac is a product name Apple is the company.
This sig has been deprecated.
This is not clear and should be something for the lawyers.
The interesting thing about Nominet's dispute resolution system is that there will be no lawyers involved (unless one of the parties chooses to use a lawyer as their representative). It's an informal sit around the table and work out the problems system, decided based more on the merits of the facts as presented than on arcane rules and regulation. You can't just win by sending in a good lawyer.
Thus Findlay Steele Associates got to keep their domain (worth seeing the disclaimer they've got on the front page!), and I see little reason Mr Cohen shouldn't keep it.
Incidentally, is this the sex.com guy? The name sounds familiar.
Apple filed for the trademark on 24 October 2000. This is before he filed for the domain - Nov. 7 2000.
q ue sted=C&trademark=2249936
http://webdb4.patent.gov.uk/tm/number?detailsre
A trademark is registered as of the date of filing under 40 (3) of the UK Trademark Act.
http://www.patent.gov.uk/tm/legal/tmact94.pdf
Therefore from 24 October 2000 - only Apple can use the trademark in business. Date of publication is not relevant.
The legal situation is different from that given by the slanted Register article.
a play on "hotmail." I didn't get it either until you said you didn't. thanks.
-buzz
Not that it is really relevant, but...
itunes.com was owned by "Esprit Engineering Corp." until around 2003-10-13, at which time it became owned by Apple.
Whois history courtesy of http://whois.sc/