A study of the adjudication of celebrity domain name disputes (Neil Brown QC)
This paper, prepared by the honourable Neil Brown QC (Australia), looks at the adjudication of celebrity domain name disputes around the world. This detailed study examins the challenges faced by well know celebtrities, inlcuding the remedies available to them.
The paper starts:
You would think that celebrities, being what they are, would be keen to register their names as domain names, set up their own websites and use the websites to promote themselves.
Some do, but others seem to have been slow off the mark, only to find that someone else has got up earlier and in effect stolen their name, registered it as a domain name and used the domain name to set up an unauthorized website.
Of course, it can be worse than that: the domain name is sometimes linked directly to a pornography website or used as a bait to attract internet users who are then switched to a website selling anything form Viagra to Pacific cruises . This, of course, can give the celebrity a bad name or even a worse name than he or she had previously.
Full version available here
2008-11-11
