Everyday on the internet is a new day of bewilderment. Each day I come across something that seems too strange to exist, only to be topped by something else the next day.
Klarna Bank is a popular Swedish FinTech company. The company was troubled by a very unique case of domain name and trademark infringement. Someone had registered the domain name KlarnaPreIPO.com and was offering Pre IPO shares claiming to belong to Klarna.
The reason behind this is the discussion in the news about a possible IPO for Klarna at the London Stock Exchange. The Complainant had posted about the IPO earlier in 2021, following which the disputed domain name was registered in April the same year.
The Respondent was even using the figurative mark along with the domain name and trademarks of the Complainant. A logo similar to Complainant was employed on the website and even had ® mark in front of the mark. The Respondent had informed one of the Complainant officials to transfer the domain name. However it stopped any conversation exchange after that.
The panel at WIPO found that the Complainant was registered and used in bad faith. The domain name was transferred.
Read the full case here.
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