Johnnie Walker the man loses to Johnnie Walker the whisky

A RULING BY NOMINET UK means that a man called John F. Walker, who registered the web site johnniewalker.me.uk as a domain name, must suspend his site after Guinness United Distillers complained it had the rights to the trade mark, Johnnie Walker.

Nominet said in its ruling that while special consideration had to be given to the "me.uk" suffix, Mr Walker had associated his site with terms such as Scotland, alcohol, scotch, whisky, blend, malt, liquor, drink, spirits and brewers.

Nominet ruled that Mr Walker, the man, tagged his site to create results which would confuse the Johnny Walker site with the Johnny Walker site.

Mr Walker, it is alleged, put a statement on his web site saying "Johnnie Walker supports Alcoholics Anonymous, Sobriety and Temperance" and had an intoxicated man striding across the screen, wobbily.

Mr Walker replied to claims by Johnnie Walker the whisky maker that he'd been known by the nickname Johnnie since childhood, but Nomineet shaid that defensh wash not "shatishfactorily eshtablished". Hic. µ