Federated Farmers in battle for domain name

By PETER GRIFFIN

A legal battle for control of the www.federatedfarmers.com web address is heating up and will likely see the holder of the domain accused of "passing off" - trading on the name and goodwill of another organisation for commercial benefit.

National body Federated Farmers and the standalone Northland Federated Farmers have been at loggerheads over the latter's use of the domain name since it registered it last January and soon after built a "meet and greet" portal for rural dwellers.

Federated Farmers last month applied for a High Court injunction to prevent the Northland body from using the Federated Farmers name in advertising.

A Government-subsidised publication called e-farming had been published in December by Northland Federated Farmers referring to the website. Two more publications were to be published by July.

A court decision on that issue is expected on April 3. Wider court action is also underway to stop Northland Federated Farmers using the Switzerland-registered web domain altogether - the parties are expected to go to court later this year on that and a range of other issues.

Federated Farmers' legal adviser, Mike Smith, said the "passing off" argument would be vigorously pursued. He said it did not matter that Federated Farmers had not been first to register the domain.

"There's all sorts of fronts of attack here. Finally the giant has stirred and got sick, sore and tired of this outfit forever plagiarising."

Federated Farmers has its own web presence at the domain www.fedfarm.org.nz, but resents the confusion caused by the smaller body's use of the name - and the commercial benefits it may be reaping.

A number of rural-focused websites have emerged, some with fee-based components. The market is dominated by Fencepost.com, Fonterra's news, information and productivity portal for its thousands of farmers.

Northland Federated Farmers also controls the www.federatedfarming.co.nz domain.

Kaitaia company Marston Moor, of which Walker is a director, has a contract to manage the web site and plan marketing.

Earl Grey, intellectual property partner at law firm Simpson Grierson, said that if people entering the Northland site were of the understanding that it belonged to the national body, the case could go in favour of Federated Farmers of New Zealand.

He added that the dispute over the domain could be referred to the disputes board of the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

Northland Federated Farmers president Ian Walker, would not comment on the court case. But he discusses the stoush surrounding use of the domain name in detail on the website.

"There has been some negative publicity from our friends in Wellington upset about us using our own name," said Walker in an online newsletter.

"The site was operating for nine months before any objections were made. We also offered a partnership with Wellington before the site was developed, which was turned down."

The Northland organisation was determined to use the website, which Walker claims received 90,000 hits in December, for further commercial development and advertising.

"It is our intention to heavily promote the federatedfarmers.com throughout 2003. We have also booked a site at Mystery Creek where we intend to promote the benefits of subscribing."