InterContinental Hotels Group wins domain name battle
By Kieron Wood
A hotel group which operates eight hotels in Ireland has won control of more than 1,500 internet domain names from a German who controls more than 70,000 domain names.The arbitration centre of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) transferred 1,519 domain names to the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG).WIPO refused to transfer ten names, and IHG withdrew claims relating to 13 others. WIPO can transfer domain names where a brand owner can show that a name is identical – or confusingly similar – to its own brand, where the person who owns the domains has no rights to the name and where the name is registered and used in bad faith.
Inter-Continental Hotels Corporation and Six Continents Hotels, both of which are owned by the IHG group, brought the claim against Daniel Kirchhof. Many of his domain names linked to websites with booking engines that offered rooms at IHG and other hotels. The company’s aid Kirchhof had no legitimate rights to use the names, and his offering of hotel room bookings was not a reasonable use of the trademarks.
‘‘Attempting to attract internet users through misuse of a well-known trademark, and the provision of links which promote goods and services competitive to [IHG], cannot be considered a bona fide use,” said WIPO. The organisation said Kirchhof owned a ‘‘vast array f other domain names’’, and this was ‘‘clear evidence of bad faith’’.
IHG operates the Express by Holiday Inn at Dublin Airport, the Holiday Inn in Pearse Street, the Crowne Plazas in Blanchardstown, Santry Demesne and Dundalk and the Holiday Inn in Killarney. In Belfast, the group operates the Holiday Inn in Ormeau Avenue and the Express by Holiday Inn in University Street.
