Arbitration won: Domain "fritz.box" now belongs to AVM

In the dispute over the Internet domain "fritz.box", AVM GmbH, manufacturer of the popular routers, has prevailed against its unknown opponent. The decision of the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Office) is now public – but nothing will change for Fritz!Box users, according to AVM.

At the end of January, an unknown person – who even WIPO was unable to catch due to a lack of correct contact details – registered the domain for himself and redirected it to various websites. For users of a Fritz! box who were not using its built-in name resolution due to an active VPN connection, for example, this led to undesirable and, as AVM also admits in WIPO decision D2024-0706, potentially harmful consequences. For example, the incorrect fritz.box domain intercepted SSH connection attempts.

The anonymous registrant then offered the domain for sale on an NFT platform for the equivalent of around 900,000 euros – as well as "o2.box", which Telefonica uses for similar purposes. However, at the equivalent of 185,000 euros, the O2 domain was literally a bargain. Apparently, according to AVM's complaint to WIPO, the unknown person was pursuing abusive purposes.

"John Doe" acted in bad faith

The fact that even the registry for .box domains did not know the identity of the registrant (who bears the pseudonym "John Doe" in the WIPO documents) violated even the most basic due diligence obligations, criticized the arbitration board, which ruled in AVM's favor due to the risk of confusion.

It will probably only be a matter of days before the domain disappears from the DNS (Domain Name System). The domain, registered in January, has only been sporadically accessible on the web since March. AVM only recently announced the new top-of-the-range Fritz!

(cku)