Cork.eu was registered by Traffic Web Holding (TWH), a company
with a Benelux trade mark on the term 'cork'. TWH applied for the
domain on 5th January of this year. Cork City Council filed its
application on 11th January but argued that it should be awarded
the domain because it filed supporting documentation before TWH
did. The arbitration panel rejected that argument.
"The Panel rejects the Complainant's contention that EURid
should have granted the domain CORK.eu to Complainant because the
documentary evidence in support of Complainant's application was
submitted prior to Traffic Web Holding's documentary evidence,"
said the ruling from the Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre for
EURid, which is a Czech arbitration court appointed to rule on .eu
disputes.
"The date of receipt for the documentary evidence is not
relevant to determine this order as long as this documentary
evidence is received before the [relevant] deadline," it said.
Cork's main allegation was that TWH acted in bad faith in
registering the domain. The arbitration panel said that a case
based on this must be taken up directly with the domain name
holder. That is not possible until the domain name has been
activated, which has not yet happened.
"The principles of due process and fair procedure require that
Traffic Web Holding must have an opportunity to defend itself
against any such allegations before its registration of CORK.eu
could be held to be made in bad faith," wrote the panel. "Traffic
Web Holding is, however, not a party to the present ADR procedure.
An ADR proceeding against a Domain Name Holder can only be
initiated once the domain name at issue has been registered and
activated, which is not yet the case for CORK.eu."
Cork must therefore wait before taking any further action, and
that action must be directly against TWH. Cork had argued that TWH
"applied for registration of the domain name CORK.eu without rights
or legitimate interest in the name," according to the arbitrator.
Cork's case said that two unsuccessful applications for the domain
name CORK.eu had previously been made by an organisation called
Parknet, which had the same contact details as TWH. Its
applications were based on alleged trade mark registrations in
Malta and the Netherlands.
Cork also argued that bad faith was proved by the fact that TWH
had also registered a number of other city domains, including
Prague.eu, Lisbon.eu, Glasgow.eu, Belfast.eu, and Athens.eu, and
has lodged applications for London.eu, Paris.eu, and Moscow.eu.
The arbitration panel said that Cork may well have a bad faith
case against TWH, but that a separate action against it must be
taken, and that that is not possible until the domain is
activated.
"The principles of due process and fair procedure require that
the domain name holder has the opportunity to defend itself against
such allegations, which is not possible in an ADR procedure against
the Registry," said the ruling.
