High Court Won't Review iTunes Domain Name Dispute

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

09 August 2005

It emerged last week that the UK's High Court has rejected an application for a judicial review of the decision by domain name registry, Nominet to force the former owner of 'itunes.co.uk' to hand it over to Apple Computer.

Benjamin Cohen registered the domain name in 2000, but was forced, earlier this year, to transfer ownership to Apple, which operates the online music store of the same name.

Delivering its judgement in March, Nominet argued that Mr Cohen's offer to sell the domain name and his use of the website established there to redirect those seeking the official iTunes store, suggested that the registration was abusive in nature.

Mr Cohen responded by appealing to the High Court for a judicial review.

However, according to a BBC News report on the matter, his application was last week rejected as "flawed in several respects", including the fact that Mr Cohen had failed to use Nominet's own dispute resolution service to appeal the decision.

Nominet welcomed the verdict and stated that it would seek to recover its costs from Mr Cohen and his CyberBritain company. However, the internet entrepreneur announced that:

"CyberBritain is considering its options together with its legal team. It is currently reviewing the decision and is strongly considering making an application for an oral hearing."

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