SPRINGSTEEN LOSES CYBERSQUATTING CASE

The three-member panel of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ruled that Canadian Jeff Burgar and the Bruce Springsteen Club had not violated the rights of the actual Bruce Springsteen by registering brucespringsteen.com.

The panel ruled that Burgar didn't appear to be cybersquatting—registering famous names as domains in the hope of making a quick profit—and, in fact, had "demonstrated that he has some rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name." The panel also ruled that Springsteen "failed to demonstrate that the domain name was registered and has been used in bad faith," and that Springsteen had put forward no evidence that Burgar had ever tried to sell the domain name.

The loss by the Boss was a rare setback for a celebrity before the WIPO, which had previously ruled in favor of Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Venus and Serena Williams, Madonna (hitsdailydouble.com, 10/17), Jethro Tull, Isabelle Adjani and the estate of Jimi Hendrix. Only tantric funnyman Sting had lost a similar case (hitsdailydouble.com, 7/28).

More than 2,000 cases have been filed since WIPO's arbitration center began receiving cybersquatting cases in December 1999. Of the roughly 1,300 cases completed, about 80% have resulted in sites being transferred.