An Indian company is taking a domain battle to court after a WIPO domain panelist handed its domain owner to conglomerate Tata Sons. The domain at issue is OKTaTaByeBye.com, a travel web site based on the colloquial saying “Ta Ta”, as in bye-bye or see you later. OKTaTaByeBye.com is run by a large online travel company that operates MakeMyTrip.com.
TaTa Sons stated in its complaint that “the Respondent has not shown any demonstrable preparation to use the domain name in connection with a bona fide offering of goods and services.”
OKTaTaByeBye refuted that in its response, stating that the site is a travel journal and community site. A look at historical DomainTools thumbnails shows that the site has been operating since at least 2006 with active traveler discussion boards.
But the response by WIPO panelist Pavan Duggal is almost humorous in nature. Despite the overwhelming evidence presented by OKTaTaByeBye.com that it is a legitimate, online travel community, Duggal focuses on on how the site links back to the company’s MakeMyTrip.com site, where people can book trips online. This, according to Duggal, shows that OKTaTaByeBye.com is actually trying to use TaTa’s trademark to “fish” for new customers to its MakeMyTrip.com site. Apparently operating an online travel community that supports a related web site is not OK.
The company is discussing the fight on its blog in a post that has received 1,256 comments.
Courtesy: Domain Name Wire
2 comments:
Dear Mr Rodney, this is quite interesting case. Taking a hypothetical situation- If he respondent didnt have the affliated website (MakeMytrip.com), then will the case against them still stand as strong as it was.
What you say about INDRP decision of hotels.in? It is such a generic name reverse hijacked using INDRP.
Also, see INDRP decision of all.in honey.in.
Your comments?
Post a Comment