We successfully represented the insolvent credit union Taupkasė (bankruptcy administrator – Klaipėdos administratorių biuras) in a domain registration case. Our client sought acknowledgement of its right to the domain names www.taupkase.lt and www.taupkasė.lt, registered by the former chairman of the board, and for the domain registration to be transferred to the union. The court fully upheld our client’s claim, thus forming new case-law whereby the actions of the company’s governing bodies can be treated as fraudulent and constitute grounds for revoking domain registration.
Court finds that former chairman of the board had fraudulent intent
One of the two domains was registered by the former chairman of the board before the union changed its name from Verslo credit union to Taupkasė and before the union registered its trademark Taupkasė. The court explained that as the founder and member of the union, the former chairman of the board was involved in the union’s activities and should have known that the union was going to change the name and apply for trademark registration. Nevertheless, he registered the domain in his own name. The court found that the former chairman of the board had fraudulent intent when registering and using the domain, and based on that cancelled the domain registration.
The second domain was registered after the union changed its name and registered the trademark Taupkasė. The court ruled that the rights to it were protected by the union’s registered name and trademark.
Our team representing the client
The client was represented by partner Kęstutis Švirinas and senior associate Kazimieras Karpickis.
