Via Bbc.com:

A fancy-dress retailer is appealing against a ruling it must surrender its starwars.co.uk web address to Disney.
For more than a decade, the Berkshire-based company has used the address to direct shoppers to a Star Wars section of its Jokers’ Masquerade store.

But in July, Nominet, which oversees .uk domains, backed Disney’s ownership claim.
The last time anyone successfully appealed against a Nominet ruling was in 2013.
The costume store’s parent company, Abscissa, was also told to give up a further six domain names used for the same purpose:
starwars.uk
star-wars.uk
star-wars.co.uk
starwarsco.uk
starwarsco.co.uk
star-warsco.co.uk

Chief executive Mark Lewis said Abscissa had used two of the addresses for more than 12 years without being challenged.

“I can’t believe that over the last two decades that someone from either Lucasfilm or Disney did not do a WhoIs [search] and find that that starwars.co.uk and star-wars.co.uk were not registered to them,” he told the BBC.

“There has to be a point in time, surely, where a registrant has to be able to hold some title.”

He added that Lucasfilm had owned star-wars.co.uk for a time prior to 2003, but had chosen not to renew it.

“We cannot find any case where a complainant lets a domain lapse, then files a complaint,” he said. “I believe this case sets a precedent.”

Nominet requires a complainant to prove that a domain name registration is “abusive” for it to agree to transfer ownership.

Its initial ruling supported Disney’s claim on the basis that consumers visiting the sites would have “falsely inferred a commercial connection” between the fancy dress store and the film franchise.

But Mr Lewis disputes this conclusion.

“We haven’t abused them,” he said.

“We haven’t rented them, we haven’t offered them for sale – the internet domains point to legitimate Star Wars-branded costumes that we’ve been selling for the past 13 years.”

Click below to read the full article.