The case was brought by domain registration service Image Online
Design Inc. which offers domain names with the .web extension,
despite the gTLD not yet being recognised in the internet’s default
root servers. The company has been taking registration in
anticipation of the recognition of .web as a new gTLD.
Image Online Design claimed that it possessed service mark
rights for .web and that the CORE Association (Internet Council of
Registrars) and its chairman, Ken Stubbs, infringed the mark
because CORE’s domain registrar members allegedly took
pre-registrations of domain names using .web.
However, the court said that .web, as a gTLD, cannot be
protected as a trade mark.
