German broadcaster München Live TV tries reverse domain hijacking: Missing umlaut
Broadcaster’s logo is for a domain name it doesn’t own.
A regional broadcaster in Germany has been found (pdf) guilty of reverse domain name hijacking.
München Live TV Fernsehen GmbH, which uses the domain name muenchen.tv, filed a cybersquatting dispute against the domain münchen.tv (note the umlaut).
Christian Reise registered the domain name in 2004, which was ahead of the Complainant existed. That made this case dead on arrival.
Making matters worse, the Complainant sent a cease & desist letter to Reise in 2015, but didn’t follow through. It then tried to acquire the domain, but its offer was too low.
The Complainant has a stylized trademark for MÜNCHEN.TV, although it differs from the current version on its website (pictured). Reise is challenging that trademark.
In other words, the firm’s logo includes Reise’s domain name, but the broadcaster uses a different domain name.
Panelist Kaya Köklü had no trouble finding that the domain wasn’t registered in bad faith to target a then-non-existent firm. The panelist also determined this was a case of attempted reverse domain name hijacking.
