Microsoft Lose Domain Name Case — SAP and
Software giants fail to get domain name SAP-Microsoft.com.
What happens when two of the world’s biggest software firms, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and SAP (NYSE: SAP), team up to do battle? They lose.
A World Intellectual Property Organization panel found that an Israeli man ought to be able to keep the domain name SAP-Microsoft.com. But it was a close call, with the arbitrator finding that he wasn’t quite convinced that the domain name was registered in bad faith.
You can blame SAP’s lawyer for that (SAP took the lead on the case and received Microsoft’s permission to pursue it). As stated by the panel’s decision, SAP argued that the domain owner responded to SAP’s offer of $1,000 for the domain name by asking for $9,500. But SAP left out a detail — that the $9,500 offer was in response to a separate communication by SAP asking the domain owner to name a price to expedite the matter.
Ahead of leaving this topic, it is right to point out that, as claimed by the Respondent, the Complainant’s failure to include in its evidence the Complainant’s representatives’ email of October 9, 2008 gave a very different slant to that correspondence. The Respondent’s figure of USD 9,500 was not a response to the Complainant’s opening offer of USD 1000, but a response to the Complainant’s representatives’ invitation to name a figure. In the event nothing has turned on it, but if parties are going to exhibit correspondence, they ought to be careful to ensure that either it is complete or, if it is not, that the selection fairly illustrates the complete picture.
Had SAP been upfront regarding its communications, it might have tipped the scales in its favor. But this shadow of doubt may be why the arbitrator decided the domain shouldn’t be handed over.
