BT has won a temporary court order against Planet Telecom which
stops its rival using the names “192enquiries”, “192 directory
enquiries” and/or “directory enquiries” for services which take
advantage of BT’s database without a disclaimer making clear that
the companies are unconnected.
Planet Telecom, a British PLC, obtained a licence from telecoms
watchdog Oftel which enabled it to use and copy BT’s database of UK
names, telephone numbers and addresses. It used the database to run
its on-line search engine service at 192enquiries.com.
According to the case report by Lawtel, Planet Telecom faxed
data correction forms to users where details were out of date. The
company apparently invited users to return the completed forms by
fax – to a premium rate number for a receiving fax machine set at
the slowest speed.
The court ruled that there was a likelihood of confusion on the
part of users of the service, commenting that “the forms were
deliberately designed to give the impression that subscriber
details were to maintain the accuracy of BT’s records and not
simply those kept by internet sites”. Accordingly, BT won an
interim injunction against Planet Telecom. The smaller company was
ordered to include a disclaimer on any fax or document containing
any reference to “192 enquiries” and its variations, that it was
not from BT.
The web site at 192enquiries.com has been re-branded as
DirectoryEnquiries.biz.
