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ARTICLE · 10 JANUARY 2008

A Sparkling Decision

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CIVC, the French champagne wine-growers trade association has won on appeal its complaint under Nominet’s Dispute Resolution Service Policy concerning the unauthorized registration of the domain name champagne.co.uk.

United KingdomMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
Sarah Breen
Sarah Breen

CIVC, the French champagne wine-growers trade association, has won on appeal its complaint under Nominet's Dispute Resolution Service Policy concerning the unauthorized registration of the domain name champagne.co.uk (the "Domain Name").

The respondent ("R"), a Mr. Jackson, registered the Domain Name without the knowledge or consent of CIVC, which filed a formal complaint with Nominet in February 2007. But the Nominet Independent Expert held that the Domain Name's registration was not abusive, and rejected the complaint. CIVC unsurprisingly appealed.

The Nominet Appeal Panel approached the appeal as a reconsideration of the merits. They considered: 1) Did CIVC have rights in the name "champagne"? and 2) Was R's registration of the Domain Name "abusive" within the meaning of the Nominet Dispute Resolution Service?

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