Uk Businessman Ordered To Hand Over Domain Name To Epson

[news]

Uk Businessman Ordered To Hand Over Domain Name To Epson
By Hull Daily Mail.

A BUSINESSMAN has been ordered to hand over an internet domain name after registering a website that confused him with a Japanese electronics giant.

Richard Lambert registered the domain http://www.epson-sch.co.uk, which incurred the wrath of Seiko Epson.

Mr Lambert's company, Pied Piper Educational Resources, serves a niche market in providing hi-tech projectors to schools – a market in which Seiko Epson also has a large presence.

The Japanese monolith shifts more than 60,000 projectors a year in the UK – earning about £26m annually – with 25,000 to 30,000 of them ending up in British classrooms.

Seiko Epson was particularly incensed because Mr Lambert's website was "derogatory" about Epson projectors and recommended the products of arch competitors, including Sony.

The company – full name, Seiko Epson Kabushiki Kaisha – complained that Mr Lambert's website was disrupting its business, confusing web surfers and costing it sales.

Now Seiko Epson has got its way after UK internet watchdog Nominet ordered Mr Lambert, of Barrow Lane, Hessle, to hand over his web domain.

The businessman told Nominet he had no intention to mislead internet users or to damage Seiko Epson's business in any way.

He pointed out that he had never claimed to promote purely Epson products and that schools, not general consumers, were his target market.

However, Nominet expert Sallie Spilsbury said Mr Lambert's domain name "takes advantage" of Seiko Epson's rights in the heavily marketed Epson name.

She said: "The effect of his activities is to exploit the brand recognition and goodwill associated with Seiko Epson.

"Customers who are exposed to the domain name … will initially be under the mistaken impression that it is connected with Epson products."

Through his website, Mr Lambert was inviting customers to buy competing products and recommending them over Seiko Epson's projectors.

Miss Spilsbury accepted this may not have been his intention, but it was still contrary to Nominet's policy.

She ruled that the domain name was "an abusive registration" in Mr Lambert's hands and ordered its transfer to Seiko Epson.

Uk Businessman Ordered To Hand Over Domain Name To Epson
By Hull Daily Mail.

A BUSINESSMAN has been ordered to hand over an internet domain name after registering a website that confused him with a Japanese electronics giant.

Richard Lambert registered the domain http://www.epson-sch.co.uk, which incurred the wrath of Seiko Epson.

Mr Lambert's company, Pied Piper Educational Resources, serves a niche market in providing hi-tech projectors to schools – a market in which Seiko Epson also has a large presence.

The Japanese monolith shifts more than 60,000 projectors a year in the UK – earning about £26m annually – with 25,000 to 30,000 of them ending up in British classrooms.

Seiko Epson was particularly incensed because Mr Lambert's website was "derogatory" about Epson projectors and recommended the products of arch competitors, including Sony.

The company – full name, Seiko Epson Kabushiki Kaisha – complained that Mr Lambert's website was disrupting its business, confusing web surfers and costing it sales.

Now Seiko Epson has got its way after UK internet watchdog Nominet ordered Mr Lambert, of Barrow Lane, Hessle, to hand over his web domain.

The businessman told Nominet he had no intention to mislead internet users or to damage Seiko Epson's business in any way.

He pointed out that he had never claimed to promote purely Epson products and that schools, not general consumers, were his target market.

However, Nominet expert Sallie Spilsbury said Mr Lambert's domain name "takes advantage" of Seiko Epson's rights in the heavily marketed Epson name.

She said: "The effect of his activities is to exploit the brand recognition and goodwill associated with Seiko Epson.

"Customers who are exposed to the domain name … will initially be under the mistaken impression that it is connected with Epson products."

Through his website, Mr Lambert was inviting customers to buy competing products and recommending them over Seiko Epson's projectors.

Miss Spilsbury accepted this may not have been his intention, but it was still contrary to Nominet's policy.

She ruled that the domain name was "an abusive registration" in Mr Lambert's hands and ordered its transfer to Seiko Epson.

[Author]

May 19, 2015 at 11:30 AM