Paramount Pictures Corporation was awarded the domain name the domain name Paramount.co.uk in an arbitration decision by Nominet when operates the .Uk ccTLD.
Its a pretty interesting decision since the domain Paramount.co.uk, was first registered as on June, 25th 2005 with the then Registrant identified as TagNames Limited (UK Co. No. 4534942), and with the Administrative Contact listed as “Andy Hugh”.
The registration remained this way until a transfer was recorded on 29 December, 2012 from TagNames Limited to “A Hugh”, with the Administrative Contact remaining as “Andy Hugh
In October 2012, the Complainant states that it unveiled plans to build a PARAMOUNT theme park in Kent, which attracted significant publicity in the UK.
Here is the relevant findings and decision:
Subsequently, in May 2013, the Complainant learnt of the disputed Domain Name when it received an email from a Paul McDonnell, who held himself out to be brokering the disputed Domain Name for sale.
The Complainant found that the Domain Name had first been registered in June 2005, and found evidence on the Wayback Machine that suggested the Domain had then been used for a website with links to third party websites relating to movie entertainment, which it perceived as having taken unfair advantage of the Complainant’s name and trademark.
Mr McDonnell then pointed out that the Respondent himself only acquired the Domain Name in 2012, and implied that the Respondent was not responsible for any prior use. He asserted that the Domain Name had been used for “no purposes whatsoever” by the Respondent.
In his email correspondence with the Complainant, Mr McDonnell alleged that he was not a “formal representative” of the Respondent, but acted as a friend who had a “general green light” to “find a buyer for some of his domain names”. He initially claimed not to have any guidance from the Respondent as to what figure might be acceptable, but went on to say he had “several other parties interested” and that he was “trying to put together a package” for the Respondent. In this context he proceeded to “suggest a deal” which he believed the Respondent “would go for”, in terms of a £50,000 with an up-front payment with a further £7000 a year for ten years, totalling £120,000 in all.
The Complainant shows evidence that the original registrant of the Domain Name in 2005 was TagNames Limited, for which the Respondent was the sole director and company secretary, and was the named Administrative Contact for the Domain Name.…
