A domain name dispute panel at the World Intellectual Property
Organisation (WIPO) has refused to transfer “Armani.com” to the
world-famous fashion house Armani. Instead, the name will remain in
the ownership of graphic designer Mr A. R. Mani of Vancouver, who
registered it in 1995.
Although Mr Mani does not actually operate a web site from the
“armani.com” address, he told the WIPO panel that he used the
domain name as an e-mail address. The Swiss company behind the
Armani label, G. A. Modefine S.A., argued that Mr Mani did not have
a legitimate right to the domain name and that it was identical to
their registered trade mark.
The WIPO panel ruled that although Modefine had indisputable
trade mark rights in the “ARMANI” name, this was not relevant to
the issue of whether Mr Mani had a legitimate interest in the name.
The panel requires evidence of both illegitimacy and bad faith in a
domain name registration before it will transfer the rights.
The requisite element of bad faith can often be shown where the
owner of the domain offers it for sale at a price higher than the
“out of pocket” expense of registration. Mr Mani had made such an
offer in 1997, but the panel ruled that his asking price of $1,935
was “relatively modest” sum and so did not indicate bad faith. In
coming to this conclusion, the panel acknowledged that Mr Mani was
operating a legitimate business and conceivably would incur costs
in changing stationery references to his e-mail address.
