Car giant tries to run down Mr Nissan's website

The Nissan Motor Company knows one man in America it would rather not have as a customer. Indeed, it has no affection for this gentleman, despite having something in common with him. The bond that disunites them is their name. Welcome to Nissan v Nissan.

If that sounds like the title of a court case, it is meant to. Nissan Motor is embroiled in a complicated suit against Uri Nissan, an Israeli immigrant who lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. His crime, as the car company sees it, is that for years he has claimed the rights to the internet address Nissan.com.

Back in the mid-1990s Mr Nissan registered Nissan.com as the site for his private computer hardware business. A little later, he also laid claim to Nissan.net, a second site that serves another of his businesses, a small internet provider service.

Curiously, it was only in 1999 that the Japanese car conglomerate came knocking at his door. They presented him with an argument that seemed to them entirely reasonable. Everyone in the world thinks cars when they see Nissan. Wouldn't he be so kind as to give them his internet address? No, he wouldn't. And so the fight began. Mr Nissan launched yet another website. But this one was dedicated to rallying public support for the cause of the little man being bullied by the industrial giant.

The little man, however, may be facing defeat. Last month, a judge in California ruled that Mr Nissan's use of Nissan.com was compromising the value of Nissan Motor Corporation. And soon, a second judge will rule on whether he will indeed have to give up the addresses, in return for financial compensation.

Mr Nissan is not happy. As he says on his (other) website: "They already own and can readily use nissanmotors.com. Their attempt to make us switch from a domain name that we have used for years, without complaint by them, exhibits that this is an attitude that they are the big guy and can take whatever they want."