As of 15/12/2020
Every institution in this world needs to protect its brand value and reputation and it looks like not even the Church is free from it. The Mormon Church has entered into a domain dispute over the domain name churchofjesuschrist.org.uk, which according to the Church was disruptive and misleading in nature.
The Mormon Church, formally known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints complained to the internet watchdog Nominet over the domain name. The domain name originally redirected to mormonenaustritt.de, which gives information about how to leave the Mormon Church. The Church contested that the name was confusingly similar to its name and misdirected people.
The respondent, a German resident, contested that the name churchofjesuschrist was a generic name and cannot be claimed as a violation of trademark. Also, the Mormon Church constitutes a very small percentage of the total Christian population and hence the name cannot belong to them.
The Church however presented that it owns CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS trademark. Along with this it also owns 85 domain names including the domain name churchofjesuschrist.org.
In the end, the decision turned out to be in the favor of the Church. The relation of the Church with the name was proven while the registration by the respondent was termed abusive.
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