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Karl Schembri
Malta’s only low cost airline is furious about a website imitating its brand name and services and is threatening to sue Air Malta for advertising there.
Copying the name, website colour scheme and pretending to sell the services of a Malta hotel owned by the airline, maltabargins.com hosted in the US has irked Malta Bargains Ltd for what it calls “deceitful advertising” which it claims is “only aimed at damaging” its business.
The complaining company’s chief executive, Robbie Borg, told MaltaToday he will be suing the Air Malta for advertising on the website, claiming that the national airline was “taking advantage of this dishonest” platform in its marketing.
The national airline however denies having anything to do with the website’s content but expressed its right to advertise wherever it deems fit.
“Air Malta retains the right to advertise and promote its operations where and when required and if Mr Borg has an issue with www.maltabargins.com he should take it up with the website owners themselves and not with our company,” a spokesman said.
The website in question is uncannily similar to Borg’s, with just the ‘a’ missing from www.maltabargains.com and advertising “cheap flights to Malta”. Even more suspicious for Borg is the mention of his own hotel, Palm Court, which when clicked leads to the webpage of an American hotel company.
Borg’s company operates British Jet – a cheap flight service to and from the UK – as well as all inclusive holidays for British tourists.
The copycat website seems to operate on a similar level to other US-hosted contentious web pages which register their internet addresses using the names of famous companies and brands, or confusingly similar wording in a bid sell their domain name at hefty prices although American courts have repeatedly ordered such website addresses to be transferred to the legitimate companies.
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