TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Lance Armstrong Wins Cybersquatting Case

Lance Armstrong Wins Cybersquatting Case

Reuters News Wire (reuters@telecom-digest.org)
Tue, 1 Nov 2005 10:40:00 -0600

The Lance Armstrong Foundation, a Texas-based charity set up by the
American cycling champion to raise funds for cancer research, on
Tuesday won the right to evict cybersquatters from websites selling
LIVESTRONG bracelets.

Two rulings ordering a California-based operator to transfer three
disputed domain names were handed down by a panel of arbitrators
appointed by the U.N.'s World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO).

CSA Marketing and Chris Angeles registered the domain names, and in
late 2004, offering the popular bracelets at commercial profit in "bad
faith," the rulings said.

"There is nothing, in short, to persuade the panel that the
registration and use of the domain names was anything other than
opportunistic and abusive conduct...," the arbitrators said.

The Austin-based Armstrong foundation, set up in 1997 by the cancer
survivor and seven-time Tour de France winner, registered the
LIVESTRONG trademark in New York state in 2004 and has two pending
federal trademark applications, according to the ruling.

The non-profit group has sold more than 50 million LIVESTRONG
bracelets to heighten awareness about cancer survivorship and raise
money for its charitable programmes.

Under WIPO's low-cost, fast-track procedure, ownership of a domain
name is transferred within 10 days unless the loser launches a court
case challenging the decision.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

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