The National Arbitration Forum has ruled in Google’s favor. Legal representatives of Google were before the forum with concerns over the rights to Internet domain names googkle.com, ghoogle.com, gfoogle.com and gooigle.com.
Sergey Gridasov registered these addresses on January 12, 2001, over a year after Google established their domain name. Visitors who tried to access these addresses were directed sites that attempted to download malicious files to the user’s computer.
The NAF’s arbitrator, Paul A. Dorf, ruled Gridasov did not have legitmate claims to these domain names and that the addresses in question could easily be mistaken for Google’s web address. The rights to these domains were awarded to Google.
Because of the negative behavior associated with these similarly named sites, Dorf also ruled Gridasov used these domains in bad faith. Gridasov had a chance to respond to these allegations when Google filed its initial complaint, which was done on May 11. Because he did not, the NAF had little choice in accepting these allegations as true.
In an unsigned email response to the Associated Press, Gridasov acknowledged he had registered these domain names because of their similarity to Google’s and that they might attract more viewers.
Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest search news.
