The owner of iTunes.co.uk, CyberBritain, has been ordered to hand the domain over to Apple Computer, which won a cybersquatting case against the company March 14.
Apple went after CyberBritain in December through the British domain registration authority Nominet, charging iTunes.co.uk should be transferred to the California-based computer giant because it owns the trademark for iTunes, the popular online music store.
Benjamin Cohen, CyberBritain’s chief executive, accused Apple of bullying tactics, telling reporters and Nominet alike that he registered the iTunes.co.uk domain name a month before Apple published its trademark application in December 2000 and three years before the company launched iTunes Music Store.
Cohen—who said he is deciding whether to appeal to the British High Court or to Nominet—also said he spurned a cash offer from Apple because he feared its interpretation as a bid to profit from the trademark. He also told reporters he would continue using iTunes.co.uk “as a redirect” to a CyberBritain shopping site.
