royaldutchshellplc.com domain name

The Official Authentic one and only RoyalDutchShellPlc.com website

Oct 6th, 2026
by John Donovan.
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A small problem with the words “official Royal Dutch Shell plc”

Before anyone at Shell reaches for the legal department, a short historical explanation may be helpful.

There is only one RoyalDutchShellPlc.com — and, rather inconveniently for Shell, it is this one.

That is not because I secretly appointed myself Royal Dutch Shell plc, commandeered a petrol station or acquired an oil refinery while nobody was looking. It is because, back in 2005, Shell itself went to the World Intellectual Property Organization seeking to take this domain name away from us.

Shell’s lawyers could hardly have been clearer about its significance. They told the WIPO panel that royaldutchshellplc.com was “essentially identical” to the company name “Royal Dutch Shell plc” and complained that an unsuspecting Internet user might naturally expect the address to lead to Shell. read more

*This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan - more information here. There is also a Wikipedia segment, the Shell DPA Files, "Shell and the Spies", the Shell Leaks files, as well as books written and published by John Donovan - Kindle eBooks. Timeline of the Donovan Shell Feud. Toxic History of Royal Dutch Shell Group. Shell and the Donovans: The Full Media Record — 550+ Articles, 110 Books, 40 Years. *All created and supported by internet wizz, Nick Gill.

Remembering the royaldutchshellplc.com domain name battle

May 14th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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In July 2005, the news media including The Wall Street Journal covered the domain name battle between Donovan and Shell over the domain name royaldutchshellplc.com.

When Shell tried to register it following the merger of the cinders of the Anglo-Dutch arms of the Royal Dutch Shell Group, its lawyers were horrified to discover that Shell’s arch-enemy had beat them to the registration. Shell issued proceedings but lost the case.

*This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan - more information here. There is also a Wikipedia segment, the Shell DPA Files, "Shell and the Spies", the Shell Leaks files, as well as books written and published by John Donovan - Kindle eBooks. Timeline of the Donovan Shell Feud. Toxic History of Royal Dutch Shell Group. Shell and the Donovans: The Full Media Record — 550+ Articles, 110 Books, 40 Years. *All created and supported by internet wizz, Nick Gill.

Shell News Archive 3 November 2005

Nov 3rd, 2012
by John Donovan.
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From Our Shell News Archive 3 November 2005

openprovider.co.uk: The EU domain battle

“A recent example of an expensive lawsuit is the Shell case for royaldutchshellplc.com and royaldutchshellgroup.com. Shell lost this case. So far the lawsuit has cost millions and the domain still doesn’t belong to them.“

(Comment by John Donovan on 3 November 2012: We have no idea how much Shell paid out in legal costs for an action served in the USA with Shell paying all costs incurred by the World Intellectual Property Organisation. We do know how much it cost us in legal costs. Not one penny. We represented ourselves and vanquished Shell and its army of lawyers. We still own all of the Shell related domain names Shell unsuccessfully tried to seize.)

Forbes/AFX News Limited: Shell and unions reach compromise, work at Dutch refineries to resume today: “…the CNV Chemie union confirmed that Shell has agreed to continue to allow its workers to retire at the age of 60.”: Thursday 3 November 2005 read more

*This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan - more information here. There is also a Wikipedia segment, the Shell DPA Files, "Shell and the Spies", the Shell Leaks files, as well as books written and published by John Donovan - Kindle eBooks. Timeline of the Donovan Shell Feud. Toxic History of Royal Dutch Shell Group. Shell and the Donovans: The Full Media Record — 550+ Articles, 110 Books, 40 Years. *All created and supported by internet wizz, Nick Gill.

royaldutchshellplc.com website protected by the First Amendment

Jun 25th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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Law of the Internet by George B. Delta and Jeffrey H. Matsuura (Oct 2008)

Excerpt from 2011-1 SUPPLEMENT 8-28

“The Sixth Circuit took the position that these negative domain names used in conjunction with Web sites that raised criticism of commercial conduct were forms of expression protected by the First Amendment.93 In some instances, critics of an organization register domain names using marks associated with the target company in order to prevent the company from using those domains or to use the domains to present Web content critical of the target organization. This type of dispute exists between Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Alfred Donovan, involving the domain name www.royaldutchshellplc.com.94″ read more

*This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan - more information here. There is also a Wikipedia segment, the Shell DPA Files, "Shell and the Spies", the Shell Leaks files, as well as books written and published by John Donovan - Kindle eBooks. Timeline of the Donovan Shell Feud. Toxic History of Royal Dutch Shell Group. Shell and the Donovans: The Full Media Record — 550+ Articles, 110 Books, 40 Years. *All created and supported by internet wizz, Nick Gill.

WIPO refuses to order transfer of domain names critical of Shell

Oct 21st, 2005
by John Donovan.
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Legalupload.co.uk: WIPO refuses to order transfer of domain names such as tellshell.org that were critical of Shell

“The WIPO panel found that Shell clearly had rights in the Shell brand in 190 countries and the domain names were confusingly similar to Shell’s brand. However, Donovan had a legitimate interest in the names and had not registered them in bad faith as he was using them to exercise his right to free speech and criticise Shell.”

Posted Friday 21 October 2005

Shell, the multinational petrol business, has failed to persuade the World Intellectual Property Organisation to order the transfer of various Shell domain names to it under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy. The Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy provides a quick arbitration procedure for disputes over top level domain names such as ‘.com’ and ‘.org’. WIPO is one of the accredited arbitration bodies that can hear domain name disputes under that procedure. read more

*This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan - more information here. There is also a Wikipedia segment, the Shell DPA Files, "Shell and the Spies", the Shell Leaks files, as well as books written and published by John Donovan - Kindle eBooks. Timeline of the Donovan Shell Feud. Toxic History of Royal Dutch Shell Group. Shell and the Donovans: The Full Media Record — 550+ Articles, 110 Books, 40 Years. *All created and supported by internet wizz, Nick Gill.

Shell loses domain .com dispute

Sep 9th, 2005
by John Donovan.
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tld-resource.com: Shell loses domain .com dispute

Someone asked me: How could they loose this? The first two should obviously belong to Shell. Why did they loose the case?

9 Sept 2005

Forum: Domain Disputes

royaldutchshellgroup.com

royaldutchshellplc.com

(and tellshell.org)

POSTING

WIPO case Shell

Someone asked me: How could they loose this? The first two should obviously belong to Shell. Why did they loose the case?

The main reason for the respondent winning the dispute is that:

– it can’t be proven that the current owner registered the domains with bad intentions and is using the domain with conflicting business interests with Shell.

– the names aren’t registered marks only company names. read more

*This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan - more information here. There is also a Wikipedia segment, the Shell DPA Files, "Shell and the Spies", the Shell Leaks files, as well as books written and published by John Donovan - Kindle eBooks. Timeline of the Donovan Shell Feud. Toxic History of Royal Dutch Shell Group. Shell and the Donovans: The Full Media Record — 550+ Articles, 110 Books, 40 Years. *All created and supported by internet wizz, Nick Gill.

The use of a company name for a news website can be legal

Aug 14th, 2005
by John Donovan.
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Domaine.blogspot.com: The use of a company name for a news website can be legal

“Here is an interesting decision: For years, Alfred Donovan has published news and reports on the firm Shell.”

By Cedric Manara

August 14, 2005

Here is an interesting decision: For years, Alfred Donovan has published news and reports on the firm Shell.

He has a website, which domain names are royaldutchshellgroup.com, royaldutchshellplc.com and tellshell.org.

In the case brought by Shell Petroleum, the Panel, as it put it, had

to “balance the Respondent’s “fair use” right to express opinions and provide information about the Complainant against the possible confusion of Internet users who reach the Respondent’s website (via any of his domain names) thinking they are accessing a site operated by or on behalf of the Complainant, an impression then dispelled by the disclaimer visible at the top of the first page of the site, which includes a link to the Complainant’s site.” read more

*This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan - more information here. There is also a Wikipedia segment, the Shell DPA Files, "Shell and the Spies", the Shell Leaks files, as well as books written and published by John Donovan - Kindle eBooks. Timeline of the Donovan Shell Feud. Toxic History of Royal Dutch Shell Group. Shell and the Donovans: The Full Media Record — 550+ Articles, 110 Books, 40 Years. *All created and supported by internet wizz, Nick Gill.

Shell loses Royal Dutch Shell PLC Domain Name Battle

Aug 12th, 2005
by John Donovan.
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FROM OUR AUGUST 2005 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE…

ShellNews.net: Shell loses Royal Dutch Shell PLC Domain Name Battle

As a result of their gross incompetence this *scandal ridden multinational finds itself in a highly embarrassing position. It has publicly laid claim to the domain name and will consequently suffer a considerable loss of face with its shareholders, the public and its competitors, as a result of the unanimous verdict.

Friday 12 August 2005: 01.35am ET

Unanimous verdict against Shell in Royal Dutch Shell PLC Domain Name proceedings

By John Donovan

A three person administrative panel appointed under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organisation has given a unanimous decision in favour of ShellNews.net website owner, Alfred Donovan, in respect of three Shell related domain names, including www.royaldutchshellplc.com

The WIPO decision document: http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2005/d2005-0538.html read more

*This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan - more information here. There is also a Wikipedia segment, the Shell DPA Files, "Shell and the Spies", the Shell Leaks files, as well as books written and published by John Donovan - Kindle eBooks. Timeline of the Donovan Shell Feud. Toxic History of Royal Dutch Shell Group. Shell and the Donovans: The Full Media Record — 550+ Articles, 110 Books, 40 Years. *All created and supported by internet wizz, Nick Gill.

The bad sport who rained on Shell’s unification parade

Jun 25th, 2005
by John Donovan.
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ShellNews.net: Who is the bad sport raining on Shell’s unification parade? Which veteran Shell shareholder has dampened the biggest Corporate Overhaul in Shell’s history? The answer: Alfred Donovan, the 88 year old Shell AGM party pooper. Why has he embarrassed the hell out of Shell for over decade?

Saturday 25 June 2005

In a recent Wall Street Journal article (“Shell wages legal fight over web domain name”) staff reporter, Chip Cummins, described as a “rare coup”, Alfred Donovan’s registration of the domain name “royaldutchshellplc.com”.

News of Shell’s huge embarrassment on the eve of its unification dual AGM’s in The Hague and London has spread in newspapers and websites around the globe, with coverage in The Wall Street Journal, The London Times, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Gulf-Times in Qatar, plus Reuters, Yahoo! News, MSN Money, etc on the Internet. There has also been coverage in Russia, Germany, and countless news stories in the Netherlands, where the HQ of Royal Dutch Petroleum Company is located. The Reuters story (“Shell shareholders to back unification”) says that Mr Donovan “beat Shell to register the domain name”. read more

*This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan - more information here. There is also a Wikipedia segment, the Shell DPA Files, "Shell and the Spies", the Shell Leaks files, as well as books written and published by John Donovan - Kindle eBooks. Timeline of the Donovan Shell Feud. Toxic History of Royal Dutch Shell Group. Shell and the Donovans: The Full Media Record — 550+ Articles, 110 Books, 40 Years. *All created and supported by internet wizz, Nick Gill.