The German Federal Interior Ministry, headed by Otto Schily, won
the transfer of bundesinnenministerium.com and other domain names
in a decision this week by a sole panellist of the World
Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). The Ministry itself uses
the domain name bundesinnenministerium.de and the Federal
Government uses bundesregierung.de.
Henry Olsson of WIPO reasoned that the disputed domain names
were being used in bad faith because the names redirected traffic
to a US-based site which is filled with Nazi imagery and pro-Nazi
statements and offers a download of Hitler's Mein Kampf. Such a
site would be illegal in Germany. However, the site is legal under
US law. Olsson also reasoned that the owner of the domain names had
no rights or legitimate interest in them and was using them to
deceive the public.
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Olsson's ruling was his
finding that the German Government has a trade mark over "Federal
Interior Ministry" when written in German. He regarded the .com,
.net a and .org suffixes as irrelevant.
The mark was not registered as a trade mark but still could be
protected if used "in the course of trade." The question for Olsson
was whether the Ministry's "issuing and dissemination of
publications and other public information" is sufficient to
constitute use of the name "in the course of trade." Olsson wrote
that "these activities are a form of trade directed towards the
German people". Accordingly, he reasoned that the names were
protected as trade marks and instructed the transfer of the
names.
