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Ken Wolter / Shutterstock.com
US retailer Walmart has not seen the funny side to the walmart.horse website and has decided to close it down.
Yesterday (May 18), the domain was transferred to Walmart after the website’s owner Jeph Jacques settled his dispute with the multinational.
Walmart had filed a Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) complaint at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in April this year but the settlement was made before the complaint was heard.
Jacques confirmed to TBO that he had decided not to fight the case.
The website was originally registered by Jacques on February 25. It displayed a photoshopped image of a horse in front of a Walmart store.
In response, Walmart sent Jacques a cease-and-desist letter on March 8, which he then published on his website.
Walmart said that the website diluted its brand and infringed a trademark it owns for the name of the company.
Jacques said that the website was an “obvious parody” and could therefore qualify as fair use.
He offered to put a disclaimer on the site stating the website was satirical and not connected to Walmart. Despite this offer, Walmart proceeded with its UDRP complaint.
The website is no longer live following the settlement between the pair.
Walmart had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
The .horse generic-top level domain name has been used to create several satirical websites.
Last month, a US resident registered hillaryclinton.horse, which shows a picture of Hillary Clinton smiling behind a horse while her husband Bill, the former US president, shoots a gun in front of the US flag.
In March, another internet user registered taylorswift.horse.
The website displays a picture of the singer Taylor Swift stood on top of a horse with the words “I’m on a Horse” underneath.
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