Flashback: Tom Cruise Acquires TomCruise.com in 2006
May 3, 2008
Tom Cruise has won his domain namesake, TomCruise.com, from notorious cybersquatter Jeff Burgar.
Burgar contested the complaint and paid for a three-person panel at domain name arbirtrator WIPO to decide the issue. In the end though, they decided for the movie star and against Burgar - who is a regular at WIPO judgments, having registered hundreds of famous peoples’ name which he redirects to his Celebrity1000.com website.
The decision comes as no surprise to anyone who follows the uniform domain resolution policy (UDRP). But Burgar, - indisputably the most infamous domain name registrant - once again highlights flaws and inconsistencies in the UDRP model.
Tom Cruise’s lawyers made three basic points: the actor has “common law trademark and service mark rights” in the term Tom Cruise; Burgar was making money from the domain through third-party ads on the Celebrity1000 website; and that internet users were likely to be confused and think that TomCruise.com was affiliated personally with the website.
– from Register
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