In a judgment released Thursday, United Nations arbitrator David Plant ruled that the name should be transferred to the New York Times Co. from the company which had registered it in 1996, New York Internet Services. The publishers claimed that 4,000 people per week were visiting the site because they wrongly guessed the newspaper's Web address. NYIS said the site was not being used for commercial purposes and only allowed people to comment on their views about the newspaper. Plant ruled the site was being used for commercial purposes because it contained links to a number of other sites and it was hosted by a company that displayed an advertising banner. He ordered the domain name to be transferred to the New York Times Co. as soon as possible.
Some names are worth millions of dollars.
The U.N. system, which started last year, allows those who think they have the real right to a domain to get it back without having to fight a costly legal battle or paying large sums of money.