In June 2002, the name was registered to a dormant company called PC World Direct Ltd. This company had nothing to do with Dixons Group plc, owner of the well-known PC World retail chain; rather, the records showed only two officers, Francis David Lyons and David Lyons.
It appears that the domain name was not in use – it was only pointing to a holding page of easily.co.uk, a domain name registrar. But Dixons Group wanted the name, so wrote to the Lyons in September 2003.
The nature of that letter has not been revealed – it is not clear if it was a demand for transfer or an offer to purchase; but the decision notes that Dixons Group received the following reply from Lawgistics, a limited company that provides legal services:
"We can confirm that we act for both Mr Lyons and PC World Direct Ltd. The domain name was registered in June 2002. The suggest [sic] purchase price is £300,000."
Dixons Group then took its complaint to Nominet, the registry for all domain names ending .uk, which operates a dispute resolution service similar to that provided by the World Intellectual Property Organisation for other disputes, particularly those involving .com, .net and .org domain names.
Dixons Group argued that the use of the domain name by a company other than PC World would confuse users, and that the offer to sell for £300,000 was evidence of bad faith.
However, Nominet panellist Claire Milne was clearly unimpressed with the quality of submissions by Dixons Group.
"The Complainant appears not to have read the Policy," wrote Milne, referring to the Nominet document that explains what any complainant needs to establish to win a domain name transfer.
"No attempt has been made to demonstrate Rights in respect of a name or mark which is similar to the Domain Name," she continued. "Instead, rather flimsy evidence has been supplied in support of Rights in the exact name PC World Direct."
However, Milne acknowledged that the PC World name was well known and that the retailer's web site at pcworld.co.uk is active – and agreed that the company did have rights that would be sufficient to allow the claim to be upheld.
The offer to sell the name for £300,000 appeared to Milne to be evidence of bad faith, noting that it was "an amount well in excess of any credible out-of-pocket costs."
Accordingly, Milne ordered that the domain be transferred to Dixons Group.
But this may have been a lucky escape for Dixons Group. According to John MacKenzie, intellectual property lawyer with Masons, the international law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM:
"This case demonstrates the flexibility and informality of the Nominet procedure. Normally a failure to provide evidence of the legal right founded upon will mean that a court case would fail. PC World was perhaps fortunate that the panellist used her own knowledge of the market to decide the case. Whether that was fair on the Lyons is perhaps another matter."