The aol.com.br case.
This is a small briefing
of what happened in the AOL case, here in Brazil. As per our last
declaration, we represent a small internet provider, who legally acquired the domain name "aol.com.br" in Brazil. I
t is a small company with approximately 3.000 clients.
However, despite of being small, has invested a lot of money in its business. In 1998, this company received a non judicial notification from AOL Inc., with the purpose to make our client ceasing the use of the
abovesaid domain name. AOL Inc plea, was that they have already registered the trademark "America On Line" and "AOL" according to the Brazilian Industrial Property Law, and our client was using such
trademark, and had to stop this using immediately. At this Time, our client did not consult any attorneys to represent them, and answered the notification to explain that the domain name was legally acquired and
registered, and they were not using the trademarks of AOL Inc. S
o, in the beginning of this year (1999), AOL Inc. filed an injunction against our client to "freeze" the use of such domain name, until the
end of the lawsuit. The first degree judge has decided to grant AOL Inc that injunction, and determined our client to stop using the domain name. We appealed from this preliminary decision, and the lawsuit went to the 4th Region Court. Our appealing was based in three
basic points: 1- Our client has legally achieved the right to use such domain name, according to the Brazilian Domain Name regulations;and 2- AOL Inc. used plenty of invalid documents in the main lawsuit (including false* documents); and
3-
The Brazilian Domain Names Regulation only permit a domain name
registration by companies already legally established in Brazil; 4-
One of the most important: Domain Names could not be consider as
Trademarks - Until today, There is no legal connection between this two institutes.
The Court received our appealing and in a prior decision, allowed our client the right to use the domain name, until the final decision.
The Court has reached a final
decision in May 18th, 1999, unanimously granting our client the right to use of domain name. Already recognized that there is no connection between Domain Names and Trademarks. This is the first jurisprudence of
our knowledge, regarding domain names in Brazil. It is a very important step to the regulation of this subject matter in our country. If you have
any doubts, comments, suggestions and/or questions, feel free to contact us.
We are at your disposal to clarify anything you may deem to be relevant. * W
e are suing AOL Inc. for the improper use of false documents in the major lawsuit, abovesaid mentioned. This lawsuit is being held by the same judge and does not has any decision yet. |
