Total Web Solutions Limited (TWS) has succeeded in its appeal against a Nominet expert’s decision to transfer its domain name myspace.co.uk to News Corp’s MySpace.

TWS set up the site to provide internet services including email and ‘web hosting space’ in 1995. Social networking site Myspace was set up in 2003, and subsequently bought by News Corp in 2005, with a UK version launched in 2006. News Corp approached TWS to buy the domain and were told it would cost $100,000 - $430,000. In May 2007 they issued cease and desist letter demanding transfer of domain and willingness to pay 220,00 = VAT.

The Panel accepted that as the domain existed before the social network site existed it could not have been registered abusively, so the only question was whether it is being or has been used abusively by TWS. The Panel were satisfied that from about July 2004 the domain name has been connected to one or more revenue earning parking pages hosted by Sedo. They also accepted that any links displayed on the parked pages are done so automatically by a standard software package operated by Sedo.

The panel expressed “grave suspicions” that the use of the parked domain name with advertising links had occurred after the publicity surrounding the acquisition of MySpace by News Corp in July 2005, but it said that MySpace had not proved this to be so. News Corp has “failed to discharge its burden to establish that the date of first use of the page postdated the publicity surrounding the acquisition of myspace”

They concluded that the “just result is to leave it to News Corp to litigate the issue, if it so wishes’ because it is not satisfied on the evidence before it that the domain name is an abusive registration within the terms of the policy”.