Forbes Wins Domain Name Lawsuit Against Russian Travel Agency

Forbes magazine won by court action the right for forbes.ru domain name. The magazine may now receive a record large compensation for the violation of trademark rights on the internet. The compensation can be the largest in Russia’s judicial practice, The Vedomosti newspaper wrote.

Photo: Forbes Wins Domain Name Lawsuit Against Russian Travel Agency

Moscow Arbitration Court ordered Landmark VIP Service Travel Agency to compensate Axel Springer Russia and Forbes Media LLC for the illicit use of the trademark in the domain name. The award will make up $300,000 (about 8 million rubles) in case the court ruling is not appealed.

The travel agency has been using the forbes.ru domain name to promote New Year tours to the Antarctic. The website of the agency says that its name is used in honor of Scottish professor James David Forbes who became known for his research of the nature of glaciers.

“We used the name Forbes without a wrong intention. The magazine filed the lawsuit against us immediately, although we could give them the domain to them without that. We have not made the decision about the appeal yet,” Yury Galustov, the director of Landmark VIP Service said.

The suit against the travel agency was filed in August. In the fall of 2009, Forbes offered the agency to solve the dispute without any financial compensation. The agency turned the proposition down, editor-in-chief of forbesrussia.ru Grigory Punanov said.

Forbes Russia did not have a website for a very long time. Forbesrussia.ru was launched only in November 2009. The renowned magazine plans to use forbes.ru address in the future.

“Eight million rubles is a lot for domain name cases. This is the largest compensation in this category of cases in the Russian judicial practice,” lawyer Viktor Naumov said.

Vedomosti