TNP "expert" legal analysis of the TH vs TR battle
Temasek versus Temasek: What’s in a (domain) name?
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/10/25/temasek-versus-temasek-whats-in-a-domain-name/
What’s in a name?
Well, if you’re a sovereign wealth fund worth billions, a lot.
And if your financial report has been called Temasek Review since 2004, the last thing you’d want to be associated with is a socio-political website that is stridently anti-government.
That’s the view of branding experts The New Paper on Sunday spoke to.
While Temasek Review (TR, for the anti-government website) is being bashed online, an intriguing battle is emerging offline.
And the fight is over the domain name
www.temasekreview.com.
Type “review.temasek.com.sg” and up pops Temasek Review, Temasek Holdings’ financial report.
Search for “Temasek Holdings’ financial report”, and again the page that pops up at the top is Temasek Review, the financial report. But search for “Temasek Review”, and at the top of the list is the anti-government website.
This battle is so serious that The New Paper on Sunday understands that the domain names temasekreview.com.sg, temasekreview.com.hk and temasekreview.com.cn among others have since been acquired. Sources said Temasek Holdings has acquired the domain names.
Branding experts said it goes beyond tussling over a name.
“The name Temasek is synonymous with Singapore. So it’s expected that the company would want to protect the name,” said Ms Fatoma Alladin, director of PR Communications.
“At the end of the day, it’s not just about protecting the name but also protecting its reputation,” she added.
More so if the trademark is widely used and is well known, said Mr Luke Lim, chief executive of branding consultancy AS Louken.
“Obviously, Temasek Holdings is spending time and effort to protect the Temasek Review trademark.
“It believes the name is a cause worth fighting for,” he said.
So what can Temasek Holdings do? Buy the TR domain name? But then who does it write out the cheque to?
Everyone associated with the website has so far hidden behind a cloak of anonymity.
Lawyer Tan Hee Joek of Tan See Swan & Company said identifying the people behind TR “would be very difficult”.
Only the domain buyers and the domain registration company would be privy to their identities.
Confidentiality clauses would also ensure the information is not leaked to external parties.
So it’ll be tough for those who feel they have been defamed by TR to serve it with lawyer’s letters, Mr Tan said.
They can get a court order to enforce the domain registration company to reveal the identity of the site’s owners.
If the domain registration company is located outside Singapore, they would have to go through that country’s courts to do so.
Temasekreview.com was registered as a domain name in July last year. Last November, Temasek Holdings trademarked the Temasek Review name.
While domain names are separate from trademarks – which can be any distinctive name, logo or sign that is associated with a company – companies do try to protect their brand name by registering all possible permutations of it as domain names on the Internet.
Temasek Holdings may be able to get the domain name back – if it can prove that the Temasek Review name had been used in bad faith, said Mr Bryan Ghows, the director of intellectual property and technology at TSMP Law Corporation.
It would have to file a complaint with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), which has worldwide power over all domain names.
Panellists would decide on the dispute.
If TR had indeed used the name in bad faith, Icann can direct the registrar to change or remove the domain name.
It is then up to Temasek Holdings to decide if it wants to use that domain name.
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Report: Koh Hui Theng and Ng Wan Ching
The New Paper (
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