The World Wrestling Federation and Worldwide Fund for Nature are to
face each other in court for a second time. The High Court
yesterday granted the US based Federation leave to appeal against a
decision restricting its use of the initials WWF.
In August, the UK High Court ruled that the Federation was in
breach of a contract entered into with the conservationists in 1994
and had illegally used the WWF initials in its marketing materials,
logos and domain name.
The judge had rejected the Federation’s argument that the
restrictions put in place by the agreement should be viewed as a
restraint on trade and contrary to European law. The Federation had
protested that a banning order would seriously inhibit its ability
to carry on its business effectively since internet generated
revenue accounts for an estimated 3% of the Federation’s total
annual income. However, the court ordered the Federation to stop
using the initials and considered the image of violence and sleaze
it is associated with as potentially damaging for the conservation
charity.
The fate of the wwf.com domain name has thus been thrown open to
question again.
