A Dhaka Court on Monday issued an ad-interim injunction till further order upon using a domain under the title of 'facebook.com.bd'.
Judge of the District and Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka, Mohammad Showkat Ali Chowdhury passed the order after holding hearing on the admissibility of a case filed by the Facebook authorities.
The court also issued a show-cause notice upon the respondents to explain in 15 days as to why a permanent injunction should not be imposed upon using the domain under the title of 'facebook.com.bd.
A-1 Software Limited, a Bangladeshi company, and its owner SK Shamsul Islam have been asked to comply with the show-cause notice.
Barrister Muksedul Islam, a local lawyer of the Facebook authorities, took part in the hearing at the court. The court fixed March 09, 2021 for further hearing on the case, added the lawyer.
The lawyer said they had filed the case in the court on November 22 this year against A-1 Software Limited and its owner SK Shamsul Islam over the registration of a domain named facebook.com.bd by the latter.
As per the international and domestic copyright law, A-1 Software cannot use Facebook's name in any way, nor does it have an opportunity to operate a site called facebook.com.bd, says the lawyer.
Mark Zuckerberg, who is one of the top billionaires of the world, filed the lawsuit seeking $50,000 in compensation. At the same time, Facebook demanded cancellation of the domain's registration in the name of A-1 Software and its allocation in favour of Facebook.
The popular social media platform also applied for imposing a permanent ban on the domain name so that defendants cannot transfer it.
However, A-1 Software Limited has hanged a notice for sale on the domain site with a price tag of 6.0 million US dollars.
A-1 Software has been running its business in a small rented room on the fourth floor of the House-75 on Green Road in the capital. The office room had nothing but a few old computers and wires to provide cable network and internet services.
Employees said the company provides cable connections to about 250 houses and Internet connections to about 100 houses in the area.
Facebook.com is the world's largest social media platform, with an annual turnover of about $21 billion. The company wants to do business in Bangladesh. It has already appointed a special officer here for this purpose. For the business, it needs a website named facebook.com.bd.
The lawyer of Facebook said the Facebook authorities obtained trademark registration of the domain name, facebook.com.bd, in Bangladesh on January 14, 2010 from the Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks.
However, in 2010, SK Shamsul Islam got allocation of a domain under the same name from Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL).
Later, he floated an advertisement to sell the domain. The issue drew Facebook's notice at the end of 2016. The Facebook authorities then sent a legal notice to Shamsul to close down the domain. However, Shamsul did not close it down rather asked Facebook to buy it for $6.0 million (approximately Tk 51 crore). The Facebook management did not agree with that deal and filed the case.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
