Williams Renault: domain names for sale
A clever individual took advantage of the announcement of the partnership between the British team and the French engine manufacturer to buy all possible imaginable internet domain names containing the names of both companies.
Upon learning on July 4th about the reunion of the Williams team and Renault starting in 2012, many Formula One enthusiasts had little stars in their eyes, reminiscent of the memories of a brilliant past when the Franco-British partnership dominated Formula One with Mansell, Prost, Hill, and Villeneuve. Others, much more pragmatic, likely had dollar signs in their eyes, considering the idea that, according to the site YallaF1.com, an Australian had of buying all conceivable domain names containing the two names: Williams and Renault.
Thus, in 2012, if the team from Grove decides to modify its website to give it the address williamsrenault.com or attwilliamsrenaultgp.com, it will first, in theory, have to shell out the trifling sum of 3.5 million dollars per domain name, claimed by their crafty owner from Brisbane.
There is indeed a real market for domaining. This practice, relatively common and quite old, does not escape some speculative excesses: in 1999, the Nanterre High Court sentenced the American company W3 System to 1 million francs in damages. The latter had acquired the domain name sfr.com and redirected it to the site of its competitor, France Telecom, in order to force SFR to buy back its domain name.
In the case of the British team, which owns its current domain name that it can keep if necessary in 2012, it is, however, a person simply claiming a number of domains without engaging in such blackmail, hoping to profit from the transaction. Williams has several alternatives: either she retains her current domain name or finds one that is available, negotiates with the holder of the concerned domain names, or initiates a legal procedure, with the concept of trademark potentially coming into play.
