Apple gains ownership of iPad3.com without a fight

Wow, that was fast! Just a week following a complaint Apple lodged with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the original owner of the domain has transferred ownership to Apple’s legal team, reports The Next Web.

It’s interesting that the WIPO case was still filed as active at post time, meaning the organization hasn’t even reached an official ruling, which could indicate that Apple’s legal sharks scared the hell out of the domain owner. Who’s this guy, anyway?

Records exposes the domain’s registrant as a company called Global Access located in the Isle of Man. It’s no wonder they registered this domain as Global Access has been found guilty in cybersquatting cases involving MasterCard and AOL.

Fusible explains:

It appears the previous owner of the name didn’t even want to wait for an arbitration panel to issue the inevitable decision, and has instead decided to quickly transfer the domain following a complaint that was filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) at the end of June.

When Apple’s lawyers transfer the domain to Cupertino, expect it to simply forward to the iPad section on Apple’s website, like iPhone.com does.

The Next Web’s Matt Brian explains that in a recent case involving the iPhone5.com domain WIPO changed the status of a successful complaint to “Terminated”.

Also, having gone from filing a complaint to gaining ownership of the domain in just seven days also serves to illustrate that people should really think twice before intentionally registering a domain containing a brand name.

If Apple can force shady individuals into relinquishing ownership of misspelled domain names such as aplestore.com, obtaining control over something like iPad3.com is nothing more than a checkbox on Apple legal department’s morning meeting agenda.

Now, how about finally gaining ownership of that attractive iPad.com domain?