It’s hard to believe that Nintendo lost its legal battle to take control of the trademarked domain name, WiiU.com. However, their official complaint filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization has been denied. WiiU.com right now is a placeholder page redirecting visitors to various links, some related to the Wii U, others not.
Nintendo has been trying to gain control of the disputed domain name since their console was announced though they have been unsuccessful as the website was registered way before the Wii U even existed, back in January of 2004. No official reason for the denial by the WIPO has been announced with the decision being reached on June 19th and its public announcement made yesterday as reported by Fusible.
Microsoft may take this as a bad sign for their upcoming legal battle as they try to gain control over the website, XboxOne.com, in light of their new console announcement last month. However, their issue is with a different organization: the National Arbitration Forum.
For Nintendo to gain the domain name, they have to shell out a large amount of money as it recently went up for auction.
Nintendo responded today with this statement regarding their loss in the matter:
Nintendo’s efforts to recover the domain name wiiu.com through a Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy administrative proceeding were unsuccessful. Nintendo has a strong history of protecting against infringement of our intellectual property rights and we are continuing to review our legal options. This decision does not impact Nintendo’s ability to enforce against violations concerning intellectual property.
