Though an F1-authorized Dutch company won F1.com.cn and F1.cn in an earlier arbitration in July, the original owner of the two domain names is reluctant to accept the arbitrator's judgment and has appealed to the local Chinese courts for another decision.

Beijing Zhihui Dongfang Information Technology Company is the original owner and CNNIC data shows that the company registered F1.com.cn and F1.cn on April 4, 2001, and March 17, 2003, respectively.

But in May this year, a Dutch-based F1-authorized company filed an arbitration request with the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission claiming the two domain names, which they thought had been illegally registered by Beijing Zhihui Dongfang.

Beijing Zhihui Dongfang believes that it has done nothing illegal in registering and using the Formula One and F1 names. Beijing Zhihui Dongfang says that the "F1" sign is not solely owned by the Dutch company because there is also an "F1" key on most computer keyboards.

However Beijing Zhihui Dongfang was not able to give a reasonable explanation why it had linked to some F1 races on its website, and this is the main reason why it lost domain names in the arbitration.

No court date has been set yet for the new round of litigation.