World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has issued a verdict on the complaint filed through Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy UDRP. It has a good chance of becoming one of the most ridiculous complaints in history. It was filed by a Swiss company BURRI Public Elements AG that specializes in architecture and landscape design against a citizen of Switzerland Markus Burri, whereas the subject of the dispute was Burri.com webpage.
Initially the company tried to convince the registrant to give up the domain. However, he refused and rightly pointed out that the registration of his very last name as a domain name is a very common and absolutely legal practice. Then BURRI decided to buy the domain name, but Markus Burri asked for 50,000 Swiss Franc for it. The company decided that this sum of money is too high and filed a complaint to WIPO, reports DomainNameWire. The most remarkable thing about this story is the reason why in BURRI’s point of view the domain should have been taken away from Markus Burri and transferred to them. The application states: “The Respondent has no legitimate interests in respect of the disputed domain name, because he is not using it for commercial purposes. “.com” domains were originally intended for commercial use.” It’s hard to say whether BURRI’s lawyers have spent 30 years in a lethargic sleep that have passed since the launch of .COM domain or were too busy with something else but it’s difficult to imagine a weirder and more laughable wording for a complaint. It’s probably unnecessary to say that the WIPO panelist Tobias Zuberbühler after considering the complaint obviously rejected it.
