Ranking in at 99th on the 2010 Fortune Global 500 list, the largest steel producing company in the world won a cybersquatting judgment in a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) dispute arbitration proceeding. In 2007 alone, The Avenue de la Liberté, Luxembourg headquartered ArcelorMittal produced 116 million tonnes of crude steel representing 10% of the world’s steel output.
In its complaint arguing for the panel to recognize the uniqueness of the ‘ARCELOR’ mark, ArcelorMittal stated, “It has no meaning in English or in any other language. A Google search of the word “arcelor” displays several results, all related to the complainant (ArcelorMittal).”
The WIPO decision was handed down on July 23, 2010 by a sole panelist, James A Barker. The panelist found that Defendant Taj Group of Companies (a Mumbai-based firm) was in violation of the federal Anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protect Act (ACPA) and infringing on AcelorMittal’s trademark for its conduct in registering and use of the following domain names:
1. www.arcelorcement.com
2. www.arcelorchemicals.com
3. www.arcelorchemicals.net
4. www.arcelorlaboratories.com
5. www.arcelorlabs.com
Presiding over and deciding the WIPO arbitration dipute, Barker found that the above mentioned names all infringed upon AcelorMittal’s ‘ARCELOR’ (Reg. No 2935304) and ‘ARCELORMITTAL’ (Reg. No 3643643) federally registered trademarks. Furthermore, Panelist Barker found that the domains were registered in bad faith and that each of the five disputed domains were either in part identical or confusingly similar to ‘ARCELOR’ trademarks.
Consequently, the WIPO issued the finding on this proceeding that the five disputed domains should be turned over to AcelorMittal.
The WIPO case is – Arcelormittal v. PrivacyProtect.org, Taj Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Taj Group of Companies, Case No. D2010-0899
For more related information on this lawsuit and on cybersquatting in general;
ArcelorMittal wins cybersquatting case
ArcelorMittal wins cybersquatting case against Mumbai firm
ArcelorMittal wins cybersquatting case against Mumbai firm
Wiki – Arcelor Mittal
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