Pldt vs. Pldt

WHAT'S IN a domain name? In a profit-motivated world, this hierarchically structured character string no longer just serves the neutral purpose of identifying an Internet site. These days, a domain name has gained currency as an invaluable tool in the marketing schemes of many enterprises lured to cyberspace gone recklessly commercialized.

No wonder Internet firms have linked their business identity to their domain names. Even non-Internet-based businesses have sought domain strings that match or approximate their corporate names. But many companies have come to grips with this reality rather belatedly, and are discovering that others have beaten them to their own domain names.

What have often ensued in the mad scramble for domain name registration are fierce battles waged in the courtroom. Which is what local telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) has thought best to do after finding out it could not claim pldt.com for its own. In the process, it has given the country its first domain name dispute case.

PLDT alleges in its P1.35-million lawsuit that Gerry Kaimo, registered owner of pldt.com, has infringed on its trademark and engaged in unfair competition for using the said tradename on his Web site (www.pldt.com). Included in PLDT’s intellectual property case as Kaimo’s co-defendant is the anti-metering advocacy group, Philippine League for Democratic Telecommunications, Inc. (PLDTI).

In its complaint, PLDT argues that it has the sole and exclusive right over the name or mark “PLDT,” claiming that the company has continuously used it for more than 70 years in its dealings with subscribers and clients, and in transactions with other corporations. That exclusivity, the complaint alleges, has been violated as a result of Kaimo and PLDTI’s “unauthorized appropriation and registration of ‘PLDT.com’ as a domain name.”

In his testimony, Horacio Lavides, PLDT media division chief, also insists that such unauthorized appropriation...