Leno wins cybersquatting case

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2009/07/02/leno-cybersquatting.html


Talk show host Jay Leno has won control of a web address that was
using the name of his upcoming show to attract business.

Guadalupe Javier Zambrano, a 51-year-old real estate agent in Katy,
Tex., has been ordered to transfer the domain name —
thejaylenoshow.com — to Leno in the next 10 days.

In a ruling issued on Thursday, the United Nation's World Intellectual
Property Organization said Leno had common law trademark rights to his
name after his 30-year career in entertainment.

The Washington Post reported that William Towns, an independent
arbitrator appointed by the Geneva-based agency, determined that
Zambrano did not have legitimate rights to the web address and
registered it "in bad faith," even though he did so in 2004 when Leno
was the host of The Tonight Show.

Towns rejected Zambrano's claim that he derived no benefit from using
that site name and also rejected his assertion that he registered the
name because he was a Leno fan.

The ruling fell under the section of the U.S. Anticybersquatting
Consumer Protection Act that makes it illegal for an individual or
organization to mislead, confuse or steer users to a site.

Leno will begin hosting a new prime-time talk show, The Jay Leno Show,
on Sept. 14.

Oprah Winfrey, Larry King and Martha Stewart are other television
hosts who have filed domain names cases with WIPO's fast-track
arbitration and mediation centre.

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