The man who owned the france.com domain name has filed a lawsuit against France after the name was taken from him and given to the French government.
French-born Jean-Noël Frydman, who previously owned the web address for over 20 years, said the website had steadily built-up its profile and had even worked alongside French agencies. Frydman claims that the French government was aware of the site and had in the past supported its initiatives, CNBC reports.
But, in April 2015, France began legal proceedings to try and get hold of the name, with the French government claiming Frydman was not authorised by the country to use the name.
A three-year court battle followed, in which Frydman, who lives in the US, lost the rights to the name and therefore his company. He's claimed that taking the name from him will cost him millions of dollars.
France.com was transferred to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs this month, after a Paris court found that the domain name 'constituted a violation of French trademark law'.
Now Frydman has launched a counter-suit to try to get the domain back.
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He has accused France of 'cyber-squatting' and 'reverse domain-name hijacking' his rights.
According to the suit: "Plaintiff, who lawfully owned and used the domain france.com in commerce from 1994 until the expropriation complained of in this action, brings this lawsuit to recover ownership, possession, and control of its rightfully obtained online property.
"Defendants have unlawfully taken Plaintiff's property without compensation, causing irreparable harm to Plaintiff and unjust enrichment to Defendants. If left to stand, Defendants' actions threaten to rob Plaintiff of millions of dollars in branding, marketing, and business development efforts, and cause millions more in lost profits."
Speaking to Ars Technica, Frydamn said: "There's never been any cases against france.com, and they just did that without any notice. I've never been treated like that by any company anywhere in the world."
He also warned: "If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone."
Currently, the france.com domain takes you to an
English-language version of the france.fr website.
Sources: CNBC; Ars Technica
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: World News, France