Spo​twa​re Syste​ms Ltd, deve​lo​pers of the cTra​der and cA​l​go pla​tfor​ms, have won their claim to six do​main na​mes after a ru​ling by the Wor​ld In​te​lle​ctual Pro​per​ty Or​ga​ni​za​tion (WIPO). The de​ci​sion found in favor of Spo​twa​re's case that the do​mains made un​la​wful use of the co​mpan​y's tra​de​mark.

Acting on be​ha​lf of cTra​der, Lon​don ba​sed so​li​ci​tors Si​lver​man Sher​li​ker LLP issued the co​mplaint to WIPO in De​ce​mber 2013 after fin​ding that the do​mains in que​stion were being used to pu​bli​sh si​tes that were iden​ti​cal to the offi​cial cTra​der we​bsi​te (spo​twa​re.com), and were clear​ly in​ten​ded to pro​fit un​la​wfu​lly from Spo​twa​re's glo​ba​lly re​spe​cted brand.

In a four-page ru​ling by WIPO, the body found sa​ti​sfa​ctory evi​den​ce that the do​mains (ctra​de​ra​fri​ca.com, ctra​de​ra​sia.com, ctra​de​reu​ro​pe.com, ctra​de​rin​do​ne​sia.com, and ctra​de​rin​ter​na​tio​nal.com) did, in fact, impin​ge on cTra​de​r's in​te​lle​ctual pro​per​ty.

Spea​king after the ru​ling by WIPO, Mr. Co​llins of Si​lver​man Sher​li​ker LLP said, "We are sa​ti​sfied with the WIPO de​ci​sion that clear​ly upho​lds cur​rent in​te​lle​ctual pro​per​ty ri​g​hts, and are glad that our client, cTra​der, can now be​gin to re​cti​fy the con​se​quen​ces of the​se un​la​wful and in​ten​tio​na​lly de​cei​tful actions."

Ilya Ho​leu, the Ma​na​ging Di​re​ctor at Spo​twa​re Syste​ms, was glad the ma​tter had been put to rest: "We are awa​re that the​se sor​ts of tra​de​mark in​frin​ge​men​ts ha​ppen all the time to other mar​ket par​ti​ci​pan​ts as well - bank, bro​kers and other tech provi​ders. We hope we have sho​wn a good exa​mple of how to fi​g​ht back wi​thout pa​ying a thing to the bu​llying par​ty that see​ks to extort co​mpa​nies like ours. "This case was as clear as day, and we're ha​ppy that the case has been se​ttled. We only hope that the​re was no con​fu​sion or da​ma​ge cau​sed to an​ybo​dy un​for​tu​na​te enou​gh to have been ta​ken in by the​se impo​stor si​tes.

Cur​ren​tly, our only le​gi​ti​ma​te we​bsi​te for Spo​twa​re pro​du​cts like cTra​der and cA​l​go is www.spo​twa​re.com. If we laun​ch any other offi​cial si​tes in the fu​tu​re, we'll be sure to re​lea​se a sta​te​ment so as to avoid any re​peat of the un​for​tu​na​te or​deal. "