BigDave - 6:14 pm on Jan 6, 2006 (gmt 0)

One down...Many to go. Great article for UK folks for sure.

Not really so great. In most of the world there would not have been a valid copyright claim, and the lawsuit has to be brought where the infringement occured.

In this case the infringement was in Australia and the Australian copyright law did cover this sort of action. this decision is not binding on Canadian, US, Indian or even UK registrars.

There is still hope, but it isn't in the realm of copyright. Most countries will prosecute such companies under fraud and fair business practices statutes. In fact, from my reading, the copyright portion of the claim was only one portion.

Unlike the copyright portion of the suit, they probably could have prosecuted the other portions in the UK, but their chances of actually collecting on the judgement would have been slim. To actually hurt them they will have to be sued where they live, which is what happened here.