[thelist] A recent cybersquatting case

James S. Huggins (Evolt) Evolt at ZName.com
Mon Apr 29 16:34:01 CDT 2002


from http://news.com.com/2100-1023-894311.html

In a victory for cybersquatters and others who snatch up domain names
containing
personal monikers, a dispute-resolution board has refused to turn over Web
addresses
 containing the words "Kathleen Kennedy Townsend."

Townsend, Maryland's lieutenant governor and a potential candidate for
governor this year,
discovered that a Baltimore man had registered several Web addresses with
her name,
including kennedytownsend.org and kathleenkennedytownsend.com.

Townsend argued that she has a trademark on her name and asked the World
Intellectual
Property Organization's Arbitration and Mediation Center--one of the groups
charged with
settling domain-name disputes--to transfer the addresses to her.

However, the owner of the disputed sites said that, among other things, he
has a free-speech
right to use Kennedy's name because she is a political figure.


James S. Huggins




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