Decision of Expert Panel Upheld by Court

In a decision made in January 2005, a Beijing court upheld the decision made by the Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center of China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) in June 2004, transferring domain names "fox.com.cn" and "fox.cn" from Beijing Cinet Info Inc., an Internet service provider, to Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, a US-based entertainment company.

In October 1997, Cinet registered the domain name "fox.com.cn" with the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) and updated it to "fox.cn" in March 2003.

In May 2004, Fox lodged a complaint with the Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center, claiming transferring of the two domain names. An expert panel provided by the center rendered a decision in favor of the complainant, ordering Cinet to transfer the above two domain names to Fox.

Not satisfied with the decision, Cinet initiated legal proceedings in the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, requesting confirmation of its rights in registration and use of the two domain names.

The court found that as early as March 1993, Fox registered a series of fox-related trademarks such as "FOX", "FOXRECORDS" and "FOXVIDEO". The court held that Fox was registrant of the trademark "FOX" and the trademark was registered earlier than Cinet's registration of the two domain names. Therefore, Fox enjoyed legitimate right in the prominent part of the disputed domain names. As prominent part of the disputed domain names, "fox" was confusingly similar to the trademark "FOX" owned by Fox. There was no evidence showing that Cinet, as an Internet service provider, either enjoyed any legitimate right in "fox", the prominent part of the disputed domain names, or had any justified reason to register and use the domain names.

Although Cinet pled that they had continuously used the two domain names since registration, but there was no evidence showing actual use. The court ruled that Cinet had bed faith in registration of the two domain names, since Cinet did not use the domain names after registration and his registration banned Fox to register the domain names.

Cinet's claim was rejected and the decision of the Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center of CIETAC should be enforced.

According to Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy of CNNIC, within 10 days after an expert panel makes a decision, either party of the domain name dispute may institute a legal action in the court at the place where CNNIC's principal office is located.