The first domain name (cybersquatting case) in Cyprus.

From Cyprus Weekly, 22/12/08, page 7:

“Coca-Cola awarded win in cybersquatting case

The Cyprus subsidiary to Coca-Cola has successfully sued a man who had registered the domain name 'www.coca-cola.com.cy'.
Coca-Cola Cyprus Ltd is currently registered at the domain name
'www.coke.com.cy' - a website address that automatically redirects Internet users to the Cyprus page on Coca-Cola's official website but officials of the most popular brand in the world became disgruntled when somebody managed to register the company domain name in Cyprus.

The Supreme Court ruled


that the purchaser bought the domain name and intended to sell it back to Coca-Cola for a large profit - something referred to as a cybersquatting offence.

Cybersquatting is registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name with bad faith intent "to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else.

The cybersquatter then offers to sell the domain to the person or company who owns a trademark contained within the name at an inflated price. It is the first time that a Cypriot court has ruled on such an offence.

To register a domain name, Internet users need to apply through ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) but to register a Cypriot domain (ending in .cy), users must go through the University of Cyprus which is given authorisation from the Telecommunications Regulator.

Coca-Cola had initially filed a complaint at the District Court which was overruled before an appeal was launched at the Supreme Court.

The appellant (Coca-Cola) claimed that the individual who bought the domain name was aiming to sell it back to Coca-Cola for a huge sum of money.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court said the name originally belonged to the company and that the owner of the domain name should hand it over to Coca Cola.

During the Court hearings, the domain name owner had claimed that he had not purchased the domain for commercial purposes but for his own personal amusement.
The lawyer also presented to the court a letter of purchase from the domain name owner in which he had also purchased the domain name "www.pepsi-cola.com.cy'.”