Indian textile company reverse domain hijacking case settled

Recently, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ruled on the domain name dispute between Indian textile company Nalli Chinnasami Chetty and Jennifer Nalli of the United States.

It is reported that the Indian textile company complained to WIPO that the domain name infringed its trademark rights. The company said that it has many registrations for the NALLI trademark and has a wide range of business.

However, the respondent Jennifer Nalli said that NALLI is her surname. She has been engaged in financial services for 15 years. The domain name was registered for outsourced financial services for new businesses and was initially used for emails. It has nothing to do with the complainant's textile business.

After review, the WIPO expert group determined that although the complainant owns the NALLI trademark right, NALLI itself is also a person's name and the respondent's surname. In addition, the use of the name for financial services cannot necessarily infer that the respondent knew the complainant's trademark and maliciously registered the domain name to exploit its goodwill.

The expert group also pointed out that the complainant continued to complain after learning the identity and surname of the respondent, and its behavior was malicious. The complainant should have realized that its claims lacked basis, but it continued to press ahead with the complaint, which constituted reverse domain name hijacking and abuse of administrative procedures.

In the end, the WIPO panel rejected the complainant's request and determined that it had engaged in reverse domain name hijacking. This ruling shows that in domain name disputes, all parties must follow relevant rules to ensure that the claims are reasonable and legal, and malicious complaints will not be supported in order to maintain a fair and just network environment.