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Alcoholics Anonymous loses web battle

'I didn't dispute any domain names last night, did I?'

By John Oates

Published: 10 January 2002 14:30 GMT

Alcoholics Anonymous has lost its battle over the ownership of the web address www.alcoholicsanonymous.org.

AA claimed the site was unfairly using its intellectual property and was likely to confuse the public. The site hosts chat rooms and message boards for discussion of AA-related issues - but the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) decided AA had failed to prove the site was being run in bad faith.

The WIPO ruling said it is fair to use the domain name, despite accepting the complainants' right to the Alcoholics Anonymous trademark. WIPO said the disclaimers on the site and the non-competitive nature of its business meant the complaint could not be upheld.

Alcoholics Anonymous World Services will continue to use the similar address www.alcoholics-anonymous.org

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Hi... um, did we have text last night?

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