Nissan Motors, the Japanese car manufacturer, is suing Mr Uzi Nissan, the current owner of nissan.com, for USD 10 million. Mr Nissan registered nissan.com in 1994, as a home page for his company Nissan Computer Company, which he founded in 1991.
Nissan Motors may have missed the Internet boat on the Internet in 1994, but by 2002 they started their outboard engine and caught up. The legal battle has been brutal, according to Mr Nissan, who is convinced that Nissan Motors is determined to bankrupt him.
Mr Nissan clearly has a right to the domain name as his last name is Nissan, and that is not because he changed it by deed poll (unlike the infamous Mr Oxford University) the Nissan surname stretches back at least two generations. Yet Nissan Motors also have a right to the domain name, as their name is Nissan. Who will win?
Well Nissan Motors has charged in court that Mr Nissan is a cybersquatter, a speculator intent on cashing in on Nissan Motors’ brand. So far Nissan Motors has lost on this point, although the company has had some success in its related claim that Nissan Computer Company is infringing on Nissan Motors’ business by directing traffic to automotive-related advertisers.
Mr Nissan also has the domain nissan.net
A WHOIS search conducted by Ambrand Dot Com shoes that Nissan Motors does at least own nissan.org, but it appears they don’t want it as it goes to a parking page.
It is nice to see that despite the court rulings Mr Nissan still owns the domain, even though he is limited in what content he can display there.
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