An ICANN international domain name disputes panel has ordered daydreamisland.com be handed over to the owners of the Queensland resort of the same name.
The domain was originally registered in November 1999 by Brisbane real estate developer Alessandro Sorbello, who claimed he planned to use it to develop an art, music and poetry Web site.
However, Daydream Island Resort Investments said the name infringed its registered trademarks and that it had been unable to reach resolution with Sorbello over the purchase of the domain name, which has been inactive since it was registered.
The company owns the 17 hectare tropical island, which was originally known as West Molle.
It is one of the several resort islands in the Whitsunday area of northern Queensland.
Sorbello denied any trademark infringement and claimed he had developed a business plan for his proposed website and had logos designed, however, when asked to submit them to the disputes panel he failed to do so.
He claimed that other trademarks existed that included the word 'daydream', and therefore the company did not have exclusivity in the words 'daydream' or 'daydream island'.
Sorbello said he had spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars planning and developing the 'daydreamisland.com' concept and he had received numerous offers for the domain name, but never sold it.
He had the opportunity to register dot-com domain names for other Great Barrier Reef Islands, but did not do so and had no intention of cornering the Great Barrier Reef Island domain name market so there was no pattern of bad conduct.
Sorbello claimed that the company tried to entrap him into selling the disputed domain name, and to generate evidence of bad faith.
But presiding panellist John V Swinson said the panel found that Sorbello's story as to his pending business for the daydreamisland.com concept lacked credibility.
He ruled that the company held a trademark over the Daydream Island name and that Sorbello had no rights or legitimate interest to the domain name and that he had registered it in bad faith.
He ordered the name be transferred to the company, which already has a Web site at daydreamisland.net.au.
The www.daydreamisland.com domain name dispute was a landmark case and was the first disputed domain name in Australia on which ICANN presided. Interestingly, this case has many times been referenced on subsequent disputes over geographical location domain names. Whilst the decision went again Mr. Alessandro Sorbello, Australia%u2019s leading domain name expert and Internet Media consultant, the case contained many aspects that where portrayed in an interesting fashion and as a result of the processes, the domain name market on geographical domains has been altered %u2013 some would have said forever more. Recent events and the persistence of several dedicated individuals have since proven this to be incorrect and the landscape on these domain names is soon to take another direction %u2013 I would refer you to the case of Barcelona.com For those who would know the truth about this case and that cascading effect that it has had on the market visit http://www.AlessandroSorbello.com where the full account is published including all correspondence and evidence which was not published online. This important issue regarding who has access to these extremely valuable domain names, is on interest to anyone who is keenly observing this 20th century phenomena called cyberspace. Mr. Sorbello interviewed Dr. Vinton Cerf, chairman of ICANN in Brisbane Australia in early 2007 and asked some poignant questions regarding the dispute of domain names and the effects of same.