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Friday March 29, 2024

Axact lost case in UK for ripping off websites

LONDON: Axact, the Pakistani IT company at the heart of the global degrees scandal, had lost a legal dispute in the UK around six years ago after using their signature fake techniques, smokescreens and methods of subterfuge to take over two websites to mint money by selling essays, dissertations and

By our correspondents
May 26, 2015
LONDON: Axact, the Pakistani IT company at the heart of the global degrees scandal, had lost a legal dispute in the UK around six years ago after using their signature fake techniques, smokescreens and methods of subterfuge to take over two websites to mint money by selling essays, dissertations and theses.
The case of fraud was brought before a legal dispute resolution service involving Axact’s blatantly fraudulent registration of two .co.uk domain names: essayrelief.co.uk and originalthesiswriting.co.uk in order to rip off the online business of an American citizen.
In order to be able to register with the UK domains, Axact lied about being a “UK Individual” with a fake name of “Matthew Smith” when it registered each site with Nominet - one of the world’s leading internet registry companies.
To fool the public, the Axact (while remaining publicly anonymous) claimed for years that it was operated by a UK company but the Companies House confirmed that it was a lie.
It has now been established about the Axact that it used staff in Pakistan not only to sell fake diplomas and degrees through its online universities and colleges, but also offered its services as “proxy students”, filling in for all the academic work, managing the academic profiles of thousands and charging them huge amounts.
It promised the same to the UK/USA students through essayrelief.co.uk and originalthesiswriting.co.uk websites. According to the legal records available, the Axact falsely claimed on the sites to have strictly “British writers who each have no less than 25 years of experience writing essays”.
The Axact was forced to reveal its address when the matter reached before the legal dispute resolution service and following details were provided by the defendant/respondent: Matthew Smith/ Axact Pvt Ltd, 211, Street # 33, F-10/1 Islamabad, Pakistan.
The legal dispute was initiated by Student Network Resources, Inc. Address: 522 Hwy. 9 North, #300 Manalapan, New Jersey 07726, USA over the domain names essayrelief.co.uk and originalthesiswriting.co.uk
It was decided that the US-based complainant had “reasonably” demonstrated its ownership of the domains while the Axact Private’s tactic was found to be “an abusive registration”. It was said in the decision that the complainant had shown that it had “a US Federal Court order (which appears to have resulted from judgment made in default) for the transfer of, among other domain names, the Domain Names subject to the current application”.
It went on: “The judgment in the US Federal Court matter appears to relate to various infringements, including claimed infringements relating to unfair competition and unregistered trade marks under the Lanham Act.”
The legal dispute forum, on 24 December 2009, through a summary decision, signed by Margaret Briffa, in favour of the complainant asked that the domain names shall be transferred to the complainant. Google told the dispute resolution forum that it had found Axact private to be in breach and therefore decided to stop taking adverts in reference to the same domain names.
On 7 August 2006, Adam Taylor launched a legal case stating that he had provided essays and dissertations under the name “Degree Essays UK” via its website at “ukessays.com” since 2003 but then the Axact on 22 March 2006 used the Domain name for a website offering essays and dissertations, using identical websites, language and techniques.
He complained that Axact copied his site design, graphics, service and some text “to make it appear as if it was the complainant”, making the sites “almost indistinguishable”.He stressed: “The Domain Name was registered to deceive the Complainant’s new and current customers into believing that they were buying from the complainant, thereby causing damage to the complainant’s business reputation and loss of profit. The website at the Domain Name appears directly under the Complainant’s Google Adwords result. This will cost the Respondent £1500 per day. The Complainant pays £2000 per day to be in top spot.”
Adam Taylor told the legal dispute forum that the respondent (Axact) intends only to unfairly disrupt the Complainant’s business for its own profit. He said the Axact refused to provide any physical address and didn’t respond to emails and hence he initiated a legal case. He told that the Axact had used www.360netvertising.com to take control of the sites.
In its written reply, the Axact submitted that it chose a generic domain name comprising two generic words: “UK Essays” to “offer essays or dissertations”. The Axact administration made an admission 6 years ago in this dispute unaware that one day it will haunt them: The Respondent (Axact) offers 24/7 sales and support service.” It also said that Axact “intends only to help the customers writing their essays and it wants to do so fairly”.
Margaret Briffa, after hearing both sides and whole making the decision, said the Respondent has “attempted to conceal its identity on several of its sites with false information” and “has a propensity to be deceitful”.
“Correspondence to Google shows that the Respondent is based in Pakistan,” he said. “The Respondent’s site design was a “rip off” of the Complainant’s designed only to confuse the Complainant’s customers; namely the swoosh down the left side, the 3 pillar design, the white and orange header, the similar pen logo, the similar 3 graphics in the same place on the header, same gold logo text, similar button design. Overall the entire look and colours were all strikingly similar,” he remarked, while exposing the Axact tactics, which had made its site a carbon copy of the complainant’s site.
Margaret Briffa said that Axact “blackmail attempts” were consistent and even wished to cash in on the Complainant’s reputation that “it has proposed merger with the Complainant”.He said that Axact didn’t disagree that Adam Taylor was spending approximately £2000 per day to achieve top sponsored position on Google for “UK ESSAYS” and “DEGREE ESSAYS UK” but the Axact was attempting to deprive him of business. Margaret Briffa decided against the Axact and ordered for the domain names to be transferred to the Complainant.