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Gold Coast Tourism Corporation has lost its appeal at WIPO(World Intellectual Property Organization) for acquiring the domain “goldcoast.com”
Gold Coast Tourism Corporation Ltd. of Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia, represented by the Australian IP Law Firm, Pod Legal had filed a complaint against Digimedia.com L.P. of Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States of America at WIPO for disputed domain name “goldcoast.com”
WIPO denied the complaint as it felt that the disputed domain name was not confusingly similar to the Complainant’s registered marks.
The general rule is that geographic terms are not per se protected under the Policy, because geographical terms ordinarily cannot serve as trademarks for the geographical areas to which they relate.
Check the complete case history here
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