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Springsteen Can't Get No Satisfaction

Posted by michael on from the justice-is-blindfolded dept.

Johnathon Walls writes "Speaking of totally arbitrary decisions by WIPO, they recently refused to award Bruce Springsteen the URL brucespringsteen.com. It is currently run by a fan site. According to the tribunal "Jeff Burgar (the current owner) had demonstrated he had some rights or legitimate interest in the Web address name" and that Springsteen "failed to show the name was registered and used in bad faith, noting Springsteen had no evidence that Burgar ever tried to sell the name"."

6 of 11 comments (clear)

  1. Random WIPO decisions by agentZ · · Score: 2

    Could the WIPO Decisions be generated by a magic 8 ball? If we get back a decision that says, "Try again later", I'm outta here.

  2. Note to self by Anoriymous+Coward · · Score: 3

    If ever sued over any of my domains make sure I have documentary evidence of refusal to sell when approached.

    I wonder if there is a business model here? For $10 I will send you a letter asking if you will sell your domain name, and I will keep the reply you send me saying "No," in case you are ever sued.

  3. Good for WIPO by autocracy · · Score: 2

    I believe that this is a good move on their part. Checking to see if domain usage fits into those categories works for me, and I find it rather appropriate...

    Now if only they could get a name better than WIPO!

    The problem with capped Karma is it only goes down...

    --
    SIG: HUP
  4. Re:Hrm by gunner800 · · Score: 2
    Half right.

    Check out the site. No banners, no popups, nothing for sale.

    No profit.


    My mom is not a Karma whore!

  5. Good decision by xTown · · Score: 2
    If my name were also Bruce Springsteen, and I had a personal web site at www.brucespringsteen.com, would "the" Bruce Springsteen be able to take it away from me?

    If brucespringsteen.com is a legit fan site (which it appears to be) and isn't making money (which it appears not to be) then "the" Bruce Springsteen shouldn't be able to do anything about it. Billy Joel notwithstanding, most musicians don't have their names trademarked.

    1. Re:Good decision by JCCyC · · Score: 2
      Well, there doesn't seem to be anything on bornintheusa.com, so he could argue malice, but isn't that too generic a phrase? I could think of many legitimate uses for that one:

      - Informations for Americans abroad;
      - Official govt. info;
      - Immigration information, e.g., what are your rights if you're the son of illegal Haitian imigrants born in US soil;
      - Campaigns to "buy American" etc...