A German court ruled on Friday oil giant Shell had more right to the www.shell.de Web site than an individual called Shell who had already registered the name.
Deutsche Shell GmbH, the German unit of Royal Dutch/Shell, sued Andreas Shell, who owned the address, over the right to use it.
The German federal court in Karlsruhe said in its ruling the use of web addresses should be decided by determining which party had the overriding interest in owning the name, even if someone else had already registered it.
When the Anglo-Dutch oil company tried to register shell.de as its Web site in May 1996, it discovered the name belonged to a firm that bought famous trade names and sold them on.
Shell was unable to reach an agreement with the registering company, which sold the address to Andreas Shell, who used shell.de as the homepage for a translation and publicity business.
The judge said everyone had the right to a website in their name, regardless of whether it was for business or personal use.
However, this was meaningless if there was such a large gap between two interests claiming the name.
The name Shell was well known, the judge said, and most customers would expect to find the firm's website at shell.de, not that of the individual.
The ruling is the latest in a series of international cases, brought by famous people and corporations against individuals they accuse of "cybersquatting."
Top actresses Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman and pop singers Madonna and Celine Dion have won cases to protect their name's trademark at the World Intellectual Property Organization.
Rock stars Sting and Bruce Springsteen lost their contests.
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