WRITTEN QUESTION P-1235/00 by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission. Bristol Austria ‐ Dipl. Ing K. J. Madden v Pfeifer Ges.m.b.H..
Date: 2000-04-10
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU competence, European Commission, United Kingdom, application of EU law, brand name, civil defence, clothing industry, electronic commerce

28.12.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 374 E/213

(2000/C 374 E/251)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1235/00

by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission

(10 April 2000)

Subject: Bristol Austria (cid:129) Dipl. Ing K. J. Madden v Pfeifer Ges.m.b.H.

(cid:145)Bristol Austria (cid:129) Dipl
is a small company registered under the owner(cid:146)s name:
Mr Ken J Madden. This company is a consultancy for British companies wishing to export to Central
Europe, and deals particularly with (cid:145)Bristol Uniforms Ltd(cid:146), which supplies firebrigade uniforms to the
Austrian firebrigade. Mr Madden(cid:146)s company has a website address: (cid:145)bristol-austria.com(cid:146).

J. Madden(cid:146)

Ing K.

An Austrian producer known as Pfeifer Ges.m.b.H. has insisted that Mr Madden(cid:146)s company change its
website address from (cid:145)bristol-austria.com(cid:146) to something not including the word Austria. Mr Madden(cid:146)s
company has until 6 April to comply with this request or to defend the action. Yet the website address
does not indicate that the company is anything other than a proprietorship.

Pfeifer is virtually a monopoly in Austria, being one of two Austrian producers of protective fire clothing.
In 1997 they were sued by the Austrian Feuerwehrverband (Fire Brigade Association) for falsely using the
registered logo of the Verband together with a subsidiary company name, and more recently have
launched a new fire-coat onto the European market which BTTG (the UK(cid:146)s premier test house) and two
separate German test houses have found after extensive testing to be 32 % under the required standard.

Will the Commission look into this matter and determine whether or not Pfeifer Ges.m.b.H. has been
acting illegally in trying to force Mr Madden(cid:146)s company to change its website address?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(12 May 2000)

The Honourable Member(cid:146)s question appears on the basis of the information submitted to relate to a
domain name dispute under the.COM top level domain.

The registration of domain names within.COM is the responsibility of the company Network Solutions Inc.
(NSI). The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has put in place a uniform
dispute resolution procedure that may be applied to all trademark-related disputes arising from registration
made in.COM.

Under the policy set by ICANN, most types of trademark-based domain-name disputes must be resolved by
agreement, arbitration or court action, before a registrar will cancel, suspend, or transfer a domain name
(see http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm). Disputes which arise from abusive registrations of domain
names (for example, cybersquatting) may be addressed by expedited administrative proceedings that the
holder of the trademark rights initiates by filing a complaint with an approved dispute-resolution service
provider.

The Commission is not competent to decide on such cases. It might be necessary for the Honourable
Member(cid:146)s constituent to seek legal advice from a specialist in this area.

(2000/C 374 E/252)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1255/00

by Armando Cossutta (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(14 April 2000)

Subject: Italian girl held in Kuwait City

Erica is thirteen years old and has an Italian mother and an Egyptian father. Since mid-January she has
been sheltering in the Italian Embassy in Kuwait City, where she went of her own accord for help. The girl,