Dispute with VisitQatar.com owner — Qatar settles

Its tourism council now obtained VisitQatar.com in a settlement.

In the end, Qatar got what it was following.

The country’s tourism council is now the owner of record for VisitQatar.com, which it forwards to its official website at VisitQatar.qa.

Qatar National Tourism Council won a UDRP it filed against the domain in 2019. The owner, Teymur Mehdiyev of Azerbaijan, had created a travel booking website on the domain and obtained a U.S. trademark for “Visit Qatar.”

It was a questionable UDRP decision, and Mehdiyev subsequently sued the Tourism Council to retain the domain. He won.

But Qatar wouldn’t relent. Last year, through another state-owned entity, it sued Mehdiyev for trademark infringement.

Qatar voluntarily dismissed the case last month following settling with Mehdiyev. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. But, clearly, the settlement included transferring the domain name.