Preliminary Injunction Granted at Ozu case

In the "Auto" of December 30, 1.997, the First Instance Judge of Bilbao nº 13 granted a preliminary injunction asked by the plaintiff.

The Plaintiff, "ADVERNET, S.L." is the owner of the registered trademark "OZU" (the name of a popular Spanish searcher).

Five (5) people had built the searcher OZU at the address "ozu.advernet.es". At a later time, the address  changed to "ozu.com", a domain name registered by one of the partners. During this time period, "ADVERNET, S.L.", a Spanish company, was to carry out the searchers` commercial business. This company has registered the trademark "OZU".

At a later time, the partners within ADVERNET separated, which necessitated another searcher, using the trademark OZU, at "ozu.es" to be built. However, the owner of the "ozu.com" domain kept using the address for the searcher also called OZU.

"ADVERNET, S.L.", OZU trademark owner, had demanded "OZUCOM, S.L." (the company which carries out the commercial business of the searcher addressed at "ozu.com") and Mr. Enrique A. (the administrative contact for that domain) to request the granting for a preliminary injunction based on registered Spanish trademark OZU.

A judicial judge ruled that the defendants were using the plaintiff´s registered trademark without legal permission. In addition, "OZUCOM, S.L." and Mr. Enrique A. were ruled against the use of the trademark OZU the domain name "ozu.com".

The ruling gives weight into the early initiatives of Spanish judiciary actions which necessitates the analysis between the relationship of Domain Names and Trademarks, and you can get it here.