French registry wins case against infringing domain registrations

The domain registry Afnic has won its cases against 13 French companies who were suing the registry for domains that were registered via Afnic that infringed on their trademarks.

The full press release is below.

French internet registry Afnic is not obliged to take precautionary measures, according to a ruling by the Paris court of appeal. The decision follows a summons that was served to Afnic and to one of its registrars by 13 French companies concerning the registration of 129 domain names infringing the companies’ rights. The companies sought redress only against the registrar and Afnic as the Registry for the .fr TLD, without holding the owners of the domain names liable for the infringement. Afnic had also been accused of not taking action to suspend or block the domain names as soon as the summons was served and allowing individuals to anonymously register a .fr domain name. Afnic welcomed the decision which upholds its practices. Even though the legal framework for domain names under the .fr TLD has changed, Afnic reiterates that it does not implement suspensive or blocking measures on simple request from third parties.

You can read the full story here.

What are your thoughts on this case? Could it help GoDaddy.com with their fight against The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) – You can read more on this story here from a previous article I had written last week.

I personally don’t see how a domain registry can be held responsible for what its registrants decide to register.

What are your thoughts?