FC: Turkish football team fails to win grab for fan's domain name

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 12:29:07 -0500
From: "Paul Levy" <PLEVY () citizen org>
To: <declan () well com>
Subject: Football club fails to quash fan site

I recently read a WIPO decision at the intersection of my passion for
football and my professional interest in cyberlaw.  According to the
decision, a Turkish-American fan of Beziktas, one of the traditional top
teams in Turkey, has since 1995 maintained an extensive fan site about
his team, a real labor of love on which he claims to spend about $2000
per month.  When the team finally decided that it wanted to set up a
website, it demanded he give up his domain name and then filed a WIPO
complaint in early 2003.  Thankfully, the WIPO panelist recognized the
right of a football fan to use his team's name for a site about the
team, and refused to order transfer of the name
http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2003/d2003-0035.html


Paul Alan Levy
Public Citizen Litigation Group
1600 - 20th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009
(202) 588-1000
http://www.citizen.org/litigation/litigation.html




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