Battle for iTunes

The popularity of the iTunes service is indisputable. But what happens when somebody never heard of it and even registered a domain called iTunes?

Robert Cohen, an English entrepreneur, registered in the year 2000 the Internet address www.itunes.co.uk and until the beginning of March he didn't have any trouble. In March, Nominet which regulates the registering of Internet domains in Great Britain transferred all the rights of the www.itunes.co.uk to Apple.

Nominet also warned Cohen that if he tries to sell the domain or if he continues to use it, the action will be considered an abuse and he will be sued.

As a response, Cohen said he had never heard about iTunes before its launching in Great Britain and that he used the address for the Cyberbritain service, a search engine focused on music.

More than that, Cohen considered Nominet's decision illegal and the way in which the dispute was settled abusive and he is ready to sue them.

Until the solving the problem, the address www.itunes.co.uk will redirect the visitors to www.quickquid.com, an online store maintained and developed by Cohen.

Cohen seems to have a lot of arguments that back up his statement. The recording of the domain was done on 7 November 2000. At that time, Apple was obtaining the trademark for iTunes and on 6 December the address was already functional.

On 16 April 2003, Apple solicited trademark for the iTunes Music Store name, and the British version of iTunes was released in June 2004, almost a year after the release of the service from the United States.