MADONNA FIGHTS FOR WEB DOMAIN

With the Internet becoming a key factor in the planned promotion of her latest release, Madonna is fighting to gain control of the obvious domain name, Madonna.com.

The pop legend has lodged a complaint with the United Nations, asking its World Intellectual Property Organization to hand over rights to the Madonna.com site, which is owned by New Jersey entrepreneur Dan Parisi.

Parisi previously used the Web site for pornographic material but has now removed it. He claims Madonna, whose full name is Madonna Ciccone, has no more right to the domain name than anyone else with the same name, the Associated Press said.

"We do not believe that because Ciccone named her act after the Virgin Mary that gives her the right to stop any other party from using the word madonna as a title of their Web site," he said. "Besides, it's not like I leaked her single to Napster."

The intellectual property organization arbitrator is due to rule on the dispute in mid-September. Recently, Sting lost a similar battle, in part because he has not copyrighted his stage name.