The Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has ruled in favor of Amazon.com after the e-tailer launched proceedings against an entity who registered a “confusingly similar” domain name.
In the case — Amazon.com Inc. v. Yoon-Jo Kim — the WIPO arbitration and mediation center ruled that the amazonfire.com domain name had been registered and used “in bad faith.”
Amazon filed the complaint Oct. 1, 2003, against the Korean-registered domain, claiming it had no permission to trade on its famous trademark. Amazon.com has been registered in the territory since 1999.
WIPO ordered Kim to transfer the domain name to Amazon.
The decision is the latest in a string of domain-name cases brought by the Seattle-based e-tailer. WIPO explains that a recent review of the United States Patent and Trademark Office database reveals that no other online business or brick-and-mortar bookstore is using any variant of “Amazon” in its name. A spokesperson says the organization has ruled on 17 separate cases involving Amazon.
