August 29, 2011


Toronto (Canada) -  Fasken Martineau, a leading international business law and litigation firm, announced today that Toronto-based partner Lisa Abe is available to comment the implications of the recent landmark decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal, which has ruled that a domain name is personal property and a business asset located in Ontario. "Until now, there has been little guidance in Canadian law on the issue of whether a domain name constitutes property," says Lisa Abe, partner in the Corporate/Commercial practice group. "This decision may well constitute a game changer in the internet industry, and set a precedent for other jurisdictions to follow," she added.

The decision involved a dispute between Tucows.com Co. and Renner S.A., about Tucow's right to keep the domain name "renner.com" in the face of Renner's registered trade-mark "Renner." Tucows, a technology corporation located in Toronto, Ontario, had purchased the domain name renner.com from a third party in 2006. The domain name is registered with the internationally recognized Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Renner, a subsidiary of a leading US retailer JCPenney, owns the trade-mark "Renner" in Brazil and other countries. The issue of the appeal was whether a trade-mark dispute between Tucows and Renner should be heard in Ontario.

The Court held that a domain name can be considered to be property in Ontario for the purposes of rule 17.02(a) of the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure. Members of the media who would like to speak with Lisa Abe can contact Mathieu Rompré, media relations specialist, at 514 397 4349.

About Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP

Fasken Martineau is a leading international business law and litigation firm. With over 675 lawyers, the firm has offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal, Québec City, London, Paris and Johannesburg. For additional information, please visit the firm's website at www.fasken.com.