The University of Cambridge has been reprimanded by an international body after losing an intellectual property case against a tourist website it claimed was “cyber squatting”.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)  denied the appeal lodged by the university against Kirkland Holdings LLC, the owners of Cambridge.com, after it found that it had “seriously misdescribed” the contents of the website in an attempt to block two copyright applications.

The university alleged that the site was a front by Kirkland Holdings to steal web traffic from them. If the university’s case had been successful, the website would subsequently have been shut down.

The report states that the university claimed: “The information about the United Kingdom and United States cities of Cambridge included in the respondent’s website has been added purely to bulk out the website and give it the veneer of a genuine business, but on closer inspection, it is clear that the respondent is not making a legitimate non-commercial or fair use of the disputed domain name.”

However, the WIPO judged that it was “not terribly surprising” that other organisations outside the university would want to use the word “Cambridge” in their names and marketing.

“The term ‘Cambridge’ itself does not have a high degree of distinctiveness or originality” the report found, stating that “the use of this term may not be forbidden to other companies”.

The report from the panel went further, claiming that the case “raise[d] an unhealthy aroma that the [university] brought this proceeding with an ulterior motive” and that there “may be grounds for abuse”. Despite this, the panel ultimately decided only to issue a warning.

To succeed in obtaining an order for a disputed domain name to be transferred or closed down from the WIPO, the complainant must prove several things.

They must prove that “the disputed domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trade mark or service mark in which the Complainant has rights”, that “the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the disputed domain name” and that “the disputed domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith”.

Cambridge University owns a number of trademark registrations internationally, in the UK and United States. The university has right to several “Cambridge” wordmarks, giving it ownership of the word when presented in a specific font as in its logo, along with “Cambridge English” and “Cambridge University Press”.

The WIPO panel ruled that this meant that the “Cambridge.com” domain name was “identical” to a trademark owned by the university. However the university’s claim fell down when face with the other two requirements, as the panel judged that Kirkland Holdings did have “a legitimate interest... in respect of the disputed domain name” and that the domain “is not being used in bad faith”.

Doug Tanger, President of Kirkland Holdings, speaking exclusively to Varsity, said: “I am of course pleased that the claim was denied”.

He added that “this was not even remotely a case of ‘cyber-squatting’”.

A University spokesperson said: “The decision to make the case was taken by a University trade mark working group in order to prevent any sale of the domain to an organisation which might damage the reputation of the University and its department.”

In response to questions about how the group have reacted to the case, the spokesman said that “the working group notes the ruling of the WIPO.”

The Cambridge.com website is divided into two micro-sites focusing on Cambridge, UK and Cambridge, Massachusetts, the home page requiring visitors to “choose your Cambridge”.

For each town, the website offers tourist information on events, accommodation, food and drink, tours, and the various educational establishments in both towns, including Cambridge and Harvard Universities and their respective colleges and campuses, MIT, and other schools and colleges.

Collectively, the website contains over 1,000 pages.

It is also not the only domain name based on a location the company has bought, having purchased “brookline.com”, named after the US town in which the company is based, for $50,000 in 2010.

Cambridge University was alerted to the American-based website when Kirkland Holdings decided to sell the domain name last year, approaching the university and other possibly interested bodies across the city. The domain was bought by the company for $85,000 in 2010, and is now available for purchase for a minimum price of $1,000,000.