Kotak Mahindra Bank wins cybersquatting case at WIPO

Kotak Mahindra Bank has won a cybersquatting case at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) against a South Korea-based person, who was using the name 'Kotak' in an internet domain.

The ruling came after the private sector lender filed a complaint before the Geneva-based WIPO on July 16 this year.

Y G Jo of Seoul was using the domain name 'kotakbank.com' about which the bank contended that the name is confusingly similar to its brand 'Kotak' and the website name has been registered in bad faith.

WIPO, a part of the United Nations, asked the Seoul-based person to transfer disputed internet site to Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Cybersquatting is an illegal activity for buying and officially recording an address on the internet that is the name of an existing company or a well-known person, with the intention of selling it to the owner in order to make money.

WIPO's Arbitration and Mediation Centre found the domain name was chosen and employed precisely for its potential commercial value in misleading internet users familiar with the complainant's well-known and arbitrary Kotak marks.

The bank holds a trademark registration for Kotak that was registered in the country on October 28, 2003.

WIPO is a specialised agency for developing a balanced and accessible international system in the field of intellectual property rights.