New Zealand Loses www.newzealand.com

The Government of New Zealand ("New Zealand"), lost its complaint alleging that Virtual Countries, Inc. ("Virtual") had no legitimate interest or rights in the domain name www.newzealand.com. New Zealand further alleged that the name "˜NEW ZEALAND' is their trade and service mark and that Virtual registered the domain name and used it in bad faith. However, a three-member WIPO panel held that New Zealand failed to prove that "˜NEW ZEALAND' is a service or trade-mark to which they have rights. In addition, the panel held that there was not enough evidence to demonstrate that Virtual had no legitimate interests or rights in the domain name and the allegations of bad faith failed. Finally, the Panel held that Virtual's allegation of reverse hijacking succeeded since the complaint was baseless and unmeritorious. For a copy of the WIPO decision, visit: http://makeashorterlink.com/?J1C552FD2