Panelist rules the domain name was registered in good faith.
A software company that specializes in services and support for the Ubuntu distribution of Linux has tried to reverse hijack a domain name.
Canonical Software filed a cybersquatting dispute against the domain name lubuntu.net. Lubuntu is the name of the company’s lightweight operating system based on Ubuntu.
There’s some confusion in the case about who registered the domain name. Canonical filed the case assuming it was Mario Behling, who spearheaded the development of the Lubuntu operating system as a member of the open source community but is no longer involved. The registrar said the domain is registered to a man in Vietnam, who said he was involved with the founding team.
Canonical argued that the registration of the domain name was bound by its intellectual property policies that stated community members could use the trademarks in accordance with its brand guidelines. The company argued that when Behling left the community, he no longer had rights to use the trademark.
This created a problem for Canonical: the UDPR cybersquatting policy requires a domain name to be originally registered in bad faith. Based on Canonical’s version of events, the domain was registered in good faith, even if it no longer qualifies under its intellectual property guidelines.
World Intellectual Property Organization panelist Warwick Rothnie found (pdf) that the domain was not registered in bad faith. Further, he found Canonical Software guilty of reverse domain name hijacking because, based on its case, the domain was clearly not registered in bad faith.
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