Legal ISP wins fight against lookalike site

INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS: Lawyers Online obtains injunction against Lawyer Online for passing off

Lawyers Online, the legal-dedicated Internet Service Provider (ISP), has obtained a High Court injunction restraining an on-line commercial legal advice site from using the trade name 'Lawyer Online' and Web address www.lawyeronline.co.uk.Judge Boggis QC found for the claimant, Lawyers Online, on the basis of passing off and the goodwill in the name Lawyers Online.Lawyers Online was launched in October 1998.

It provides links to other professional and legal sites and a free on-line legal advice service.

Lawyer Online, launched last month, provided on-line legal advice for small to medium-sized businesses.

'Given that we also provide legal advice through our site, this caused us particular concern,' said Lawyers Online spokesman Alan Tomlinson.

According to Mr Tomlinson, when Lawyers Online became aware of lawyeronline's domain registration, they contacted the owners: 'They assured us that they would inform us of the launch date of their site - which they didn't do.' The former Lawyer Online refused to comment on the case.

However, spokeswoman Suzanne Lane said the site would shortly be relaunched as DIY Lawyer.Following Lawyer Online's launch, Mr Tomlinson said, Lawyers Online began seeing a 'noticeable effect' on its Web traffic, and e-mails intended for Lawyers Online instead found their way to Lawyer Online.Nominet, the body responsible for assigning UK domain names, has its own dispute resolution process, but this failed to procure an out-of-court agreement.

After the site's launch, however, Lawyers Online moved quickly, obtaining a temporary injunction against Lawyer Online on 7 July and a consent order on 10 July.

On 13 July, Nominet suspended use of the domain name lawyeronline.According to spokeswoman Felicity Hoad, Nominet 'avoided making a snap decision' and 'took a fair degree of caution' before taking action.

But Mr Tomlinson criticised the body for not acting fast enough: 'After the injunction, it took more effort than it ought to have done to make Nominet act.'Media law specialist Mark Stephens, a partner at London firm Finers Stephens Innocent, was more sceptical about the case: 'Nominet's dispute resolution process is generally fast and effective.

I don't think that Lawyers Online needed to go to court.'

Rowland Byass