WIPO ordered that the barcelona.com domain name be transferred to complainant, City Government of Barcelona due to the respondent's bad faith. Although the respondent argued that its use of the name was to develop links between different cities with the Barcelona name, WIPO found a definite likelihood of confusion with the complainant's thousands of "barcelona"-related trademarks. Specifically, WIPO ruled that when thinking of "Barcelona", the first and only city that the public at large thinks of is the city of Barcelona, Spain. WIPO also noted that although the respondent did not attempt to "sell" the domain name, it suggested that the complainant invest in a business plan to develop the domain name by acquiring 20% of the respondent's stock.
Administrative Panel Decision at http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2000/d2000-0505.html
Keywords: domain names, cybersquatting
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