The German Federal Interior Ministry, headed by Otto Schily, won the transfer of bundesinnenministerium.com and other domain names in a decision this week by a sole panellist of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). The Ministry itself uses the domain name bundesinnenministerium.de and the Federal Government uses bundesregierung.de.
Henry Olsson of WIPO reasoned that the disputed domain names were being used in bad faith because the names redirected traffic to a US-based site which is filled with Nazi imagery and pro-Nazi statements and offers a download of Hitler's Mein Kampf. Such a site would be illegal in Germany. However, the site is legal under US law. Olsson also reasoned that the owner of the domain names had no rights or legitimate interest in them and was using them to deceive the public.
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Olsson's ruling was his finding that the German Government has a trade mark over "Federal Interior Ministry" when written in German. He regarded the .com, .net a and .org suffixes as irrelevant.
The mark was not registered as a trade mark but still could be protected if used "in the course of trade." The question for Olsson was whether the Ministry's "issuing and dissemination of publications and other public information" is sufficient to constitute use of the name "in the course of trade." Olsson wrote that "these activities are a form of trade directed towards the German people". Accordingly, he reasoned that the names were protected as trade marks and instructed the transfer of the names.