Beware the German Domain Rule
am 18.07.2008 von http://www.recht.us/amlawCK - Washington. In the dim ages of the Internet, trademark law and domain law were two separate branches of the law. Trademark law addressed priorities and the domestic, territorial nexus of vendor and goods or services. Domain law resolved issues of a global first come, first served addressing system for web and other Internet techniques. Trademark lawyers didnt understand the domain name system and began to apply trademark law to it, then prevailed on legislators to outlaw the first come, first served foundation of domain law. Germany and the United States went parallel paths in that evolution. Now, a German court vigorously pedales ahead of the peleton by applying German trademark law extraterritorially. It tells a Gulf state corporation to use .ae domains, not .com domains. Its .com domain would indicate commercial activity. Its commercial activity is noticeable in Germany. In Germany, there is a trademark owner with a mark akin to the domain name. The .com domain violates the trademark in Germany, a .ae domain would not. The Düsseldorf Court of Appeals sticks its neck pretty far out. Germany tends to complain of American adventures into the extraterrorial application of laws. In its ruling 1-20 U 93/07 of April 22, 2008, the German court does not do only that but gratuitously volunteers a redefinition of domain extensions. Certainly, .com has always been understood to cover any use that is not .mil, .gov, .edu and to some extent .net and .org, although the latter two went through …
Commercial Use of Domain Names
German American Law Journal :: American Edition / HF - Washington. On January 26, 2006, Sebastian Meis explored the issue of commercial use of domain names in Germany in The Commercial Use of Domain Names Under German Law. Discussing a recent German court decision of a district cour…
Hotel Marks in Germany and Spain
German American Law Journal :: American Edition / CK - Washington. In the matter 33 O 209/03, the Cologne District Court, Landgericht ruled on September 13, 2005 that a German trademark for hotels in Germany is not violated by the same mark used for a hotel in Spain even if the Spanish hotel…
Domain is Property
German American Law Journal :: American Edition / CK - Washington. The domainundrecht.de blog analyzes the recent German Constitution Supreme Court decision, docket number 1 BVR 1306/02, of November 24, 2004, involving the ad-acta company and the ad-acta.de domain, both held by different part…
Germany to Control .Info
German American Law Journal :: American Edition / CK - Washington. In the past, German courts applied German civil law relating to the protection of names proper, and competition and trademark law, to the .de domain. Thus, a city could insist on the domain city.de--an unfortunate departure fr…
Torts and Arbitration
German American Law Journal :: American Edition / CK - Washington. An American arbitration clause provided by contract for retail securities transactions does not cover tort claims arising under the German statute for investor protection, the Düsseldorf appellate court decided on Decemb…
Domain Contact Liable
German American Law Journal :: American Edition / CK - Washington. Irrational as it may appear, German courts are beginning to hold administrative contacts for domain names civilly liable for omissions of legal requirements and violative acts. The HeymsBahr blog reports of an August 24, 2004…
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