Domain name victory for Ryanair (but with hidden extras)

0370 270 6000

Search Mobile

collapse

already registered?

Please sign in with your existing account details.

Email address

Password

need to register?

Register to access exclusive content, sign up to receive our updates and personalise your experience on brownejacobson.com.

Privacy statement - Terms and conditions

Forgotten your password?

collapseSign

Home

Insights & events

Resources

Blogs

Domain name victory for Ryanair (but with hidden extras)

14 October 2010

Nominet has ordered the transfer of the domain name ihateryanair.co.uk from Robert Tyler to Ryanair.

Robert Tyler registered the domain name and used it for his anti-Ryanair website, which was devoted to criticism of the airline.

Nominet ordered the transfer not because the domain name pointed to a protest site, but because Mr Tyler derived advertising revenue from that site totalling £322 – hardly a fortune.

But maybe Mr Tyler has had the last laugh – he has moved his website to here and has removed the commercial advertisements. Interestingly, at the time of this posting, the domain name ihateryanair.co.uk still points to Mr Tyler’s website.

Conversely a victory for free speech then! Brand owners should beware of the limitations of the Nominet dispute resolution process in relation to criticism websites. If you are looking to manage online content about your brand consider also whether the content is defamatory, or whether your trade mark has been infringed.

Related opinions

Are whistleblowers entitled to keep their employer’s confidential documents?

In Nissan v Passi, the High Court recently considered the issue of an employee retaining confidential documents belonging to his former employer in the context of the employer’s application for an injunction seeking the return of such documents from the employee.

View blog

Important opportunity to comment on case law precedent

The UK government is considering extending this power to depart from retained EU case law to additional lower courts and tribunals, namely the Court of Appeal in England and Wales and the High Court of Justice in England and Wales and their equivalents.

View blog

Sky’s overly broad trade marks narrowed as found partially invalid for bad faith

Lord Justice Arnold has applied the guidance of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to the evidence before him, in the long standing trade mark dispute between Sky and Skykick.

View blog