Google in August won a case in India to control the android.co.in domain name. The development surfaced in a previously unreported order published on the National Internet Exchange of India's website; NIXI is the registry for domain names that end in .in, which means it authorises registrars (who ultimately sell domain names) and handles disputes like this. The android.co.in domain was registered by Jing Ren, a resident of Wuhan, China that the arbitrator in the case called a "habitual cyber squatter". A cybersquatter is someone who registers a domain with a generic or trademarked name to profit off of selling it. The arbitrator, appointed by NIXI, decided that the domain was registered in bad faith, as Ren had advertised that they would sell the domain for US $19,500 (~₹14 lakh). In an email to the arbitrator, Ren backtracked on the registration, and said that they would transfer the domain to Google for free if arbitration proceedings were dropped. The arbitrator, SC Inamdar, balked at the offer, calling it further evidence of bad faith, and ultimately ordered Ren to pay Google their legal costs for the proceedings. Ren also registered tiktok.in and amozon.in, and was ordered to surrender both domains earlier this year. It's unclear if Google will actually be able to enforce the award, as Ren is not based in India. We have reached out to the company for comment. The domain doesn't appear to have changed hands just yet, though that might just be a matter of time. How companies…
Please subscribe to MediaNama. Don't share prints and PDFs.
You May Also Like
News
Google has released a Google Travel Trends Report which states that branded budget hotel search queries grew 179% year over year (YOY) in India, in...
Advert
135 job openings in over 60 companies are listed at our free Digital and Mobile Job Board: If you’re looking for a job, or...
News
By Aroon Deep and Aditya Chunduru You’re reading it here first: Twitter has complied with government requests to censor 52 tweets that mostly criticised...
News
Rajesh Kumar* doesn’t have many enemies in life. But, Uber, for which he drives a cab everyday, is starting to look like one, he...