France.com domain owner is suing France for taking domain name away

A French-born American who owned the domain name France.com between 1994 and March 2018 has filed a lawsuit against the French state. France has deprived him of this domain through an earlier procedure, which, according to the man, should not have been allowed.

On April 19, Jean-Noël Frydman filed a lawsuit in the US state of Virginia. The document states that he wants to regain ownership, possession and control of France.com. According to Frydman, there is, among other things, reverse domain name hijacking. He also believes that France does not have the exclusive right to the word ‘France’.

According to Frydman, the French state has unlawfully deprived him of this domain, without France offering any form of compensation. The plaintiff argues that France has unlawfully enriched itself with this and that he suffers damage, because without the possession and ownership of France.com he will ultimately lose millions of dollars in marketing, among other things.

Frydman tells the Ars Technica website that he has never had a case involving France.com before and that he is very dissatisfied with his registrar, Web.com. This registrar responded in 2015 to an attempt by the French government to take control of the domain name by locking down France.com. In 2017, a court in Paris ruled that France.com infringed France’s trademark rights, after which the registrar Web.com handed over the domain.

On March 12, ownership of the domain name went to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, without Frydman being notified. Web.com has been asked for comment by Ars Technica, but the registrar has not responded.