The Head of State had made a request to recover the precious domain name, which had been registered by a third party.
This is a new clue that dispels the little suspense about the possible candidacy of Emmanuel Macron to his own succession. As the site notes Numerama, the Head of State asked to recover the domain name macron2022.fr, bought by an unidentified Internet user, and has just won his case. The decision was taken by the French Association for Internet Naming in Cooperation (AFNIC), in charge of managing domain names in France.
To avoid cybersquatting – the fact that Internet users get their hands on domain names of obvious interest to institutions, the law allows “any person showing an interest in acting” to “ask the office to competent registration the deletion or transfer to its benefit of a domain name”, according to thearticle L45-6 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code.
Request made in November 2021
In order to recover the domain names macron2022.fr and macron-2022.fr, victims in his eyes of cybersquatting, Emmanuel Macron had to provide AFNIC with multiple documents to prove his identity, starting with his own passport. According to the decision, available online and dated December 28, the application was filed on November 17, 2021.
If the name of Emmanuel Macron does not appear at any time in the AFNIC decision, it is indicated that the applicant is “the President of the French Republic since May 14, 2017”. A precision that leaves little doubt about his identity.
“The reserving party deliberately wanted to divert the fame of the applicant’s first name and surname in his domain name to attract Internet users to the website to which he will point in the future. It is therefore without legitimate interest and in perfect bad faith that the holder of the domain name [patronyme]-2022.fr recorded it, thereby infringing the rights of the President of the Republic [le Requérant] on his surname” estimates AFNIC in its decision.
The institution points out that its choice is in line with the case law in this area.
“The AFNIC college has already had occasion to consider that ‘registration of the domain name which associates the name of a public figure and the presidential election deadline for the year 2012, could be considered as an act of manifest bad faith by the holder’ specifies the decision, thus recalling that this choice is in the continuity of the case law on the matter,” she said.
For the time being, only the domain name avecvous.fr is used by the presidential party La République en Marche, which has also put the hand on domain names such as 5ansdeplus.fr, but also etesvoussurlaliste.fr or estusurlaliste.fr. So many potential clues about the communication strategy that Emmanuel Macron’s teams could use for the presidential campaign.
