Het is toegestaan om via domeinnamen als shellscandal.com kritiek te leveren op Shell. Dat heeft het WIPO-arbitragepanel bepaald. Volgens het arbitragepanel is het gebruik van een domeinnaam om kritiek te leveren echter in beginsel toegestaan: ’the use of a domain name to criticize a company is prima facie fair use’.
Opvallend is dat er nogal wat tegenstrijdige uitspraken over dit type zaken zijn. In Nederland oordeelde de rechter onlangs dat de domeinnaam injeholland.nl inbreuk maakte op de merkrechten van de Hogeschool In Holland.
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“The use of a domain name to criticize a company is prima facie fair use. The Respondent is entitled to use the Internet to use his free speech rights and express his opinion in this way, subject to other laws of course (copyright, libel, etc.). However, by reflecting the exact trade names of the Complainant and using the exact name of a facility specifically designed to send messages to or post messages about the Complainant, the Complainant argues that Respondent’s intent is to tarnish the mark. The distinction between constructive criticism and tarnishment can be a difficult one to draw. In this case, there is no evidence that Respondent’s actions are for “commercial gain” or that they are intended to tarnish the Complainant’s mark as required by paragraph 4(c)(iii) of the Policy. The Respondent does own some shares of stock, but the impact of his activities on the value of such shares is presumed by the Panel to be remote. The Panel thus finds that the Respondent has a legitimate interest in the domain names.”
Decision in the case of Shell International Petroleum Company Limited v. Alfred Donovan, WIPO
Injeholland.nl in kortgeding met InHolland, Rechtennieuws.nl
Shell verliest domeinkwestie, Planet
Royaldutchshellplc.com; Royaldutchshellgroup.com, tellshell.org en ShellNews.net
