Rexel.ai ordered transferred: WIPO panel rejects "the AI invented the name" defence
· Summary of an article by DomainGang
In WIPO case DAI2026-0073, decided on 8 October, sole panelist Frederick M. Abbott ordered rexel.ai transferred to French electrical distributor Rexel Developpement SAS, which has held REXEL trademarks since 2009. The UK respondent, which registered the name on 31 January 2026, argued that an AI tool had produced "Rexel" as an acronym and that its chatbot's claim to belong to the Rexel Group was an AI hallucination.
The panel found bad faith and made clear that using AI is no defence against an abusive registration. For .ai buyers the lesson is simple: a name identical to an established trademark is a legal risk, no matter who or what came up with it.
