Nominet capitulates to Apple in ruling

Apple has won the first stage of its battle to rest the itunes.co.uk domain name away from its owner CyberBritain Holdings Ltd.

The decision comes from UK domain authority Nominet that has made the decision as part of a Dispute Resolution Service decision.

CyberBritain registered the domain approximately three years before Apple bought the itunes.com domain name. CEO Benjamin Cohen said: "We were not expecting this decision. Apple chose to launch the UK brand of iTunes in the UK with the knowledge that we had owned the name for three years before their USA launch and four years before their launch within the UK."

The company now has two options in taking the battle to stage two: appeal to Nominet directly or take the case to the High Court. Both are potentially costly options.

Cohen is buoyed in his decision to fight on by the recent High Court victory of Phone4U.co.uk which fended off a similar attack by high street phone retailer Phones4U. "This leads me to think our case may be extremely strong," said Cohen.

Nominet's ruling against CyberBritain comes only one month after a similar judgement favouring Goliath over David. Game consultant Gareth Sumpter was last month ordered to relinquish control of the Game.co.uk domain name to Game plc.

Apple's accusation is that CyberBritain has been cyber-squatting but, having registered the domain name a whole three years before any information about the iTunes service became public, this clearly is not the case.

Previously companies in Apple's position would have been forced to purchase domain names registered by others. Now, it seems, corporations have only to kick up a fuss for Nominet to capitulate in their favour.

The High Court, however, may see things slightly differently.