Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world, just lost a domain name dispute with Binancé, an Australian florist, over the domain name ‘binance.com.au’ .
Binance, represented by Ashurst Australia, had been battling the florist since April 15. Binance’s lawyers argued the florist has no claim to the trademark, since Binance registered its trademark on November 21, 2018, a year before the florist registered its domain name on October 27, 2019.
But on June 17, Binance lost the battle. As proof, head over to Binance.com.au, and you will not encounter the Australian version of the crypto exchange behemoth but a cutesy online florist. (“Who created flowers? As they dance, as they sway, single or binancé”. More appealing than Binance’s “exchange the world”).
Binance’s complaint emphasized that Binance registered its trademark in Australia on November 21, 2018, noting that the florist registered the domain name binance.com.au nearly one year later on October 27, 2019.
Also Read : CZ Binance Explains How He Recovered 46 Bitcoins Sent To Wrong Address.
The exchange also highlighted that the Binancé’s director, Mr. Nawodycz, also operates a digital marketing firm and works as a “blockchain exchange researcher” for the company ‘ World Bookings’ — insinuating that Nawodycz registered the name for the sole purpose of monetizing the domain.
WIPO noted that the expressions ‘binancé flowers’ does not translate from French to mean ‘paired flowers’ in English — as was claimed by Nawodycz. However, Google translate was found to support Nawodycz’s assertion.
Binance’s representation also noted that the business plan and expenditure estimates provided by Nawodycz were undated, and could have been created at any time.
WIPO’s ruling also states that multiple listings on Binance.com.au use images of flowers identical to those used by various eBay and Etsy sellers.
The MetaMask browser extension flags the site as a phishing attempt.
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