Posted on 07/25/2007 8:30:15 PM PDT by hedgetrimmer
Woo-hoo! "The Simpsons Movie" has won its name back on the Internet.
A UN agency has ruled that ownership of the domain name thesimpsonsmovie.com must be handed to News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox, which owns the rights to the film and the popular TV series.
Twentieth Century Fox complained to the World Intellectual Property Organization over the use of the film's name in the Internet address of a site registered by Keith Malley of New York.
Fox lawyers claimed Malley was using the address to divert Internet users to a website that included sexually explicit depictions of several characters from "The Simpsons" and, later, to his "Keith and the Girl" website. He was demanding a $50,000 fee from Twentieth Century Fox for the domain name, according to the July 22 ruling of the WIPO arbitration panel.
It found that Malley "has no rights or legitimate interests with respect to the domain name" and ordered its immediate return.
In an interview, Malley said that Fox lawyers never contacted him and that he learned about the case after the deadline had passed. He said his contact information was available on his website and through his lawyer, although he hadn't updated the official registration records for the domain name, which he bought in 1999.
"I found it bullying," Malley said, adding that he would speak with his lawyer about challenging the decision. Malley could appeal by filing a lawsuit in a court.
The arbitration system, which was set up in 1999, allows those who think they have the right to a domain to gain control of it without having to fight a costly legal battle or pay large sums of money. Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and Madonna are among the Hollywood stars who have previously won rulings against so-called "cybersquatters."
"The animated television series 'The Simpsons' debuted in 1989, and has become one of the longest-running network series in television history," the ruling said, noting that Friday's release of the film has generated huge public interest on the Internet.
WIPO said Malley's "aim in registering the disputed domain name was to profit from and exploit" Twentieth Century Fox's trademark to promote and sell his own products and merchandise.
Malley, 33, who produces an Internet radio show, said he obtained the domain name with intentions of creating a parody of "The Simpsons." He said the amount Fox offered for the domain name, $300, wouldn't cover time spent developing ideas for the site; he would not elaborate on those ideas.
"Really? Do you work for the U.N.?"She named one that I have never heard of . . . the funny thing is that the moment she said NGO I thought of hedgetrimmer.
"No. I work for a NGO."
"Which one?" [If she had said WIPO I would've fallen-over right there].
Do you think it's possible that hedge and I are meant to be together?
Thanks, I didn't feel like eating lunch today.
When you get a chance, check out your Freepmail.
I still haven’t opened my FRmail since before Grizzled Bear (what was that, comment #100 or something?) sent me that nastygram. I’ll get to it some time later.
Ok, so let me ask you this. If it were an American company going up against someone who registered the name in China how would you expect that to be handled?
You’ll never get a straight answer.
Hedgetrimmer, you danced around that question so nicely you should be a politician! lol
Seriously, what would YOUR solution be to the problem? People get ripped off all the time by going to websites that abuse a brand they don’t own. From the phishing issues with banks to counterfeit goods to the corporations being ripped off because the site with their name in it is directing people to their competitors sites. In all seriousness what would be your idea to fix this situation?
Never bought a product in China. I don’t even buy Chinese products in the U.S., and I haven’t since Tiananmen. When was that, 1989?
1. shoot the bastard (isolationist),
2. ignore him (isolationist),
3. have Belarus enforce the injunction (globalist), and
4. pre-emptively register the offending domain name in every nation on Earth (isolationist).
That's not quite true. I plan to eat at China Buffet today, as its Friday menu is excellent and I'm hungry.
Yes it was. It is the same answer as why China gets Microsoft OS for $3 and US citizens in America pay hundreds of dollars.
Ok, you’re not getting my question apparently. Let’s phrase it differently. What system would you personally like to see put in place to protect internet users in generally from being duped by fake websites? If say a squatter in the UK registered a website with a name that belongs to a US bank and directed people there with the sole intent to steal their information, what system would you have in place to correct that? Or would you just they have every right to dupe people and steal their identity?
Shouldn’t that be the XXX family given their proclivity for using naked children in their products?
I wonder what happened in the good old days, when a person from the UK sent a letter to an American citizen on forged bank letter head with the sole intent of stealing something from them?
They left the banking for the internet and the letters for the Canadian lottery.
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