The arbitration of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ruled on a complaint against the domain name Starlinkmx.com. It was submitted under the UDRP by SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk. The reason for the complaint is quite understandable: SpaceX owns the Starlink satellite internet service.
The investigation revealed many interesting details. The domain name registrant is the Mexican company StarGroup, which has been operating in the telecommunications and entertainment industry for 60 years. She owns several well-known brands in Mexico, including Star TV, Star Go, Star Line and the Star Group itself. And in 2015, the company also submitted an application for the registration of the Starlink trademark in Mexico - and specifically for the provision of services in the field of communications.
This was about the time that SpaceX announced plans for its satellite service, although it does not appear SpaceX began using the Starlink name back then: in any case, no evidence was presented to the WIPO arbitration. In 2017, SpaceX lawyers approached StarGroup with a proposal to sell the Star Line and Starlink trademarks. The negotiations were unsuccessful and turned into a legal conflict that continues to this day. SpaceX lawyers have already succeeded in getting one of the StarGroup trademarks invalidated.
However, in the case of a domain dispute, the success was accompanied by a Mexican company, according to the Domain Name Wire. The WIPO arbitration found that although the Starlinkmx.com domain itself was registered in 2018, StarGroup submitted for registration of the corresponding trademark three years earlier - that is, before SpaceX officially began using the Starlink name for its service. Thus, StarGroup, on the one hand, had legal grounds for registering the domain, and on the other hand, it did not act to the detriment of the interests of Elon Musk's company. SpaceX's complaint is dismissed.
