Economist losses battle for domain name

The Economist magazine has lost a battle to gain the domain name theeconomist.com, writes Jason Fell of Folio.

Fell wrote, “In its petition to WIPO, The Economist argued that the disputed domain name is identical to the magazine’s registered trademarks, and that the individual who registered the name has no ‘legitimate interests’ in the name. Theeconomist.com was registered in November 1996 by Jason Rose, owner of Maryland-based TE Internet Services. The site has been used as a tribute site to former U.S. chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan, but its content has not been updated since April 2002. Rose, according to WIPO, denies that he had knowledge of The Economist magazine in 1996 when he registered the name.

“According to WIPO’s administrative panel decision document, The Economist first learned of theeconomist.com in 2001 and contacted Rose seeking a transfer of rights. Rose apparently did not respond to the request, and the magazine did not take further action until last August when, through an intermediary, it attempted to purchase the rights to the name for $500. Rose declined the offer.

“The offer was apparently prompted by a review of domain names at The Economist which determined that theeconomist.com was generating a ‘significant amount of Internet traffic,’ the WIPO document says.”

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