Ownership dispute over Swissinfo.org website
Swissinfo, the international service of the SRG, is in a dispute with one of its former employees over the website swissinfo.org. The former manager had registered the website in his own name and now wants to sell it for a profit following his dismissal.
Swissinfo, the SRG's foreign service, is in dispute with one of its former employees over the swissinfo.org website. The former manager had the website registered in his name and now wants to sell it for a profit following his resignation. As spokesperson Daniel Steiner confirmed to SDA on Monday, SRG has attempted to prevent a possible sale of the domain by means of a super-provisional injunction. A Bernese court rejected this and heard the man. However, he is now not allowed to use the address for his own purposes until the end of the year.
The ruling shows that the owner of the domain has voluntarily undertaken to tolerate the free use of the domain name by SRG until the end of his employment relationship at the end of 2007.
SRG wants to secure the rights to Swissinfo.org, emphasized Steiner. The priority is to reach an agreement with the owner. If this does not succeed, legal action cannot be ruled out.
Swissinfo.org is not the first website to be the subject of a legal dispute: the address Switzerland.ch, for example, was also secured by a private individual. After a long dispute, the federal government paid her CHF 50,000 for the domain.
The ruling shows that the owner of the domain has voluntarily undertaken to tolerate the free use of the domain name by SRG until the end of his employment relationship at the end of 2007.
SRG wants to secure the rights to Swissinfo.org, emphasized Steiner. The priority is to reach an agreement with the owner. If this does not succeed, legal action cannot be ruled out.
Swissinfo.org is not the first website to be the subject of a legal dispute: the address Switzerland.ch, for example, was also secured by a private individual. After a long dispute, the federal government paid her CHF 50,000 for the domain.
