AA took its claim before a panel of the World Intellectual
Property Organisation. It claimed that the owners of the domain
name registered it to confuse "the purchasing public into believing
that [AA] maintains, or has approved, endorsed or is the sponsor
of, or is otherwise associated with" the unofficial site.
AA also noted that in September the domain name had been linked
by its owners to a gambling site and that the owners had also tried
to sell it at GreatDomains.com, a popular marketplace for
registered domain names.
However, the panel decided that the owners did have a right in
the name. It considered AA "a highly decentralised fellowship of
local organisations around the world." It wrote that the name's
owner had "some legitimate right to use the domain name as well,"
partly evidenced by its offering AA-related information and the
fact that the operation was non-commercial.
