Domain Name Registration Revoked Based On Prior Trademark Rights

Banmédica S.A. v. Arbitrator, Corte de Apelaciones de Santiago, Chile. Case number C-14654-2019 (decision dated July 1, 2020).

On July 1, 2020, the Chilean Court of Appeal overturned an arbitrator's decision granting the domain name "multimed.cl" due to Banamerica S.A. ("BSA")'s prior trademark rights. This decision holds that domain names are an extension of trademarks on the Internet and illustrates the limitations of the "first-come, first-serve" principle in domain-name disputes in Chile.

Banamerica S.A. ("BSA") filed a petition to revoke the registration of the domain name "multimed.cl" by Vit Vrba ("VV") before the Network Information Center in Chile, the department that administers the registration of ".cl" domain names (also known as "NIC Chile"). BSA's petition was based on its prior trademark registration for MULTIMED for clinic and medical center services in Class 44.