A Fife taxi firm boss attempted to make financial gain from US billionaire Herb Kohler”s St Andrews firm after he snapped up an internet domain name it wanted.
Patrick Woods bought web address thehamiltongrand.com just two days after Mr Kohler announced that his proposed conversion of Hamilton Hall (pictured below) into luxury apartments would be called The Hamilton Grand.
The owner of St Andrews Taxis then contacted the Old Course Ltd and discussed airport runs from the Old Course Hotel, which Mr Kohler also owns, in return for the domain name.
He even suggested he might be a suitable project manager for the renovation of the iconic building bought last December for £11.5 million.
However, the Old Course Ltd complained to Switzerland-based UN agency WIPO the World Intellectual Property Organisation and its arbitration and mediation centre ordered Mr Woods to hand over the domain name, finding he had used it in bad faith.
Mr Woods was said to be abroad when The Courier contacted his firm and was not due to return until next week.
A spokesman for the Old Course Ltd declined to comment.
Mr Kohler announced the new name for Hamilton Hall on March 12, as reported at the time by The Courier, and Mr Woods registered the web address on March 14.
According to a report by WIPO panellist Jonathan Turner, Mr Woods told the Old Course Ltd in an email he had registered both thehamiltongrand.com and thehamiltongrand.co.uk and wrote, “I do not want money for handing over these websites to you but would like to discuss how Kohler can help me to build my business in St Andrews.”
Subsequent emails from the Old Course Ltd referred to a proposal to provide Mr Woods with 10 airport runs a year from the Old Course Hotel.
A further email from Mr Woods said he would be pleased to discuss further suggestions and added, “Who knows, with the huge project of renovating The Hamilton Grand they may need a project manager in St Andrews which is where my real skills lie!”
In its complaint to WIPO, the Old Course Ltd claimed Mr Woods registered the domain name to coerce it into doing business with him.
Mr Woods told WIPO that he registered several domain names relating to historical landmarks of St Andrews to generate more business for his taxis.
He said he contacted Kohler Co the parent company of Old Course Ltd after deciding not to use the websites and that it was Kohler Co that suggested helping him.
Mr Woods also accused Kohler Co of having been “very slow out of the starting blocks.”
Mr Turner concluded that the domain name was identical to the mark The Hamilton Grand, to which Old Course Ltd had acquired the rights, that Mr Woods had no right or legitimate interest in it and that it had been registered in bad faith.
He said, “The respondent registered the domain name primarily for the purpose of transferring it to the complainant for valuable consideration in excess of his documented out of pocket expenses directly related to the domain name.”
Nominet, the internet registry for .uk domain names, refused to say if it had handled a complaint regarding thehamiltonhall.co.uk but that address is now registered to the Old Course Ltd.