A Beijing court has ordered Nanjing Zhongtie Technology Development Company to return to the global retailing giant four Chinese domain names Zhongtie had earlier registered. The purchased domain names were special Chinese character representations of many of Wal-Marts trademarked brands.
According to a representative from Wal-Mart Beijing, the four Chinese domain names related to Wal-Mart were registered by Nanjing Zhongtie in July 2003.
Wal-Mart complained about Nanjing Zhongtie's behavior at the Hong Kong International Arbitration Center in August 2004 when it initially identified Nanjing Zhongtie. Since then the two sides had raised a series of lawsuits against each other regarding the domain names.
The court believed that because Nanjing Zhongtie's behavior had constituted improper competition, it ruled in Wal-Mart's favor.
