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Court rules against barcelona.com

Adios Amigo (or Catalan equivalent)

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A Spanish travel site is considering an appeal against a US court's decision to strip it of its domain name.

The US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia upheld an earlier ruling ordering the owners of barcelona.com had to hand over the domain to the Barcelona City Council.

According to the ruling, the owners of barcelona.com made a "thinly veiled attempt to demand money from the City Council in return for the domain name".

They also "grossly exaggerated the value of the barcelona.com business prospects".

As a result, barcelona.com was ordered to transfer the domain name to the city council "forthwith".

Despite the ruling those behind barcelona.com are toying with the idea of continuing their legal fight.

"We're looking at our options," said Dan Evans of Barcelona.com.

"The sensible thing would be to appeal – but it all comes down to money," he said.

Barcelona.com has now changed its domain to easybarcelona.com.

Separately, the German Government has won a two year legal battle to win the right to use the domain deutschland.de. ®

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