The WIPO ruling on celeb CarmenElectra.com domain

well, when you hear carmen electra, you think of the actress

Yes that was her exact argument in the case.

I dont like seeing domains taken away from people, but i can grudgingly understand why WIPO did it

do they have to pay her some $$$ ?

Not from what I understand. She'd have to file a civil suit to obtain damages from them.

Former 'Baywatch' Star Carmen Electra Wins Rights to Her Name in Cyberspace

GENEVA - Former "Baywatch" star Carmen Electra has won control of the Internet name www.carmenelectra.com in a ruling by a United Nations panel, a U.N. spokeswoman said Thursday.

An arbitrator for the World Intellectual Property Organization ordered the transfer of the domain name to the American actress, who had complained that it was being used in bad faith to divert Internet traffic to a commercial site, Celebrity1000, said WIPO spokeswoman Samar Shamoon.

The ruling upheld Electra's complaint against the company that registered the name - Network Operations Center of High Prairie, Canada.

Arbitrator Jon Lang noted that he had no response from Network Operations Center, but that he assumed it "does derive a commercial advantage from the Web site, particularly in view of the advertisements contained in it."

Lang said use of the Carmen Electra Web address "creates a likelihood of confusion that its site is sponsored, endorsed or affiliated" with the actress.

"Internet users entering a domain name identical to that of a famous celebrity expect to find a site connected with that celebrity, not a site without any connection with that celebrity but other celebrities on whom they are not seeking information," he said.

The actress, who was born Tara Leigh Patrick, told the arbitrator that she had adopted the name Carmen Electra 10 years ago.

Lang said he was satisfied that the public associates the name with her, giving her trademark or service rights to it and said he concluded that the registered owner of the Web address "has no such rights or legitimate interests."

He noted that a U.N. panel also had held in favor of James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan against the same Web address registrant.

A number of celebrities have already won the Internet version of their names back from Network Operations Center - also known as Alberta Hot Rods - or the man who controls it, Jeff Burgar.

They include writer Michael Crichton, actors Kevin Spacey and Pamela Anderson and recording artists Celine Dion and Bruce Springsteen.

On Tuesday the estate of "Lord of the Rings" author J.R.R. Tolkien won a similar case against the same operation.

Anyone can register a domain name for a few dollars, which has led so-called "cybersquatters."

The U.N. arbitration system, which started in 1999, allows those who think they have the right to a domain to get it back without having to fight a costly legal battle or paying large sums of money.

Fair. Let's hope this will happen just to cases like this one.

am I the only one who thinks that it's funny that carmen electra's real name is the same fake name a MAJOR PORNSTAR uses.

Her name is Tara Patrick. Isn't the pornstar name TERA Patrick? Well, I'm not sure, but it would be very similiar anyway.

LOL

Yep there is >

Tera Patrick is just a lil' bit hot.

What is Tera Patrick's real name?

No one in a million years would guess this one, but that's what Tera's real name is:

Linda Hopkins Shapiro

"Linda" in portuguese (and maybe in some other languages as well) means "pretty".

damn she's hot

liar - it's carmen electra

Tera Patrick is Jewish? Shapiro is definitely a Jewish name.

not as Jewish as Jewstein or Jewberg but still pretty Jewish.

I knew she had to be half something!

Bahahahaha......"actress", is that what she is?

Carmen Electra, or is it Carmen Elektra w/ a k? Anyhow, if she manage to obtain a name that's not even her real name, how then can Nissan not able to obtain Nissan.com? I figure Nissan would have enough resources to acquire that domain.

well one sure way to lose at WIPO is not to respond to the arbitrator.

I have CharlesManson.com and because of California law he can't do anything about it while he is incarcerated. He sent me a letter in '98 asking me not to make him look like a bad guy. Yeah, right.

I had SeanConnery.com and had a notice on the site for over a year offering it to him for free. His agent finally got in touch with me and accepted the offer after proving he was the real deal. Got some press in the papers, a letter of thanks from Sean Connery, and a 10 minute phonecall from him. Was worth the $70 it cost me.

dude that's awesome

that sounds really cool

No surprise. WIPO gave Madonna madonna.com shortly after WIPO came into existence
and her birth name was Louise Ciccone.

WIPO seems to be the tool of the extremely wealthy and at the
same time the nemesis of domain squatters.

I agree madonna was a bad call, but I think this (Carmen) was a good call.

And it's not that WIPO favors the wealthy, but that WIPO's ICANN set up a system that favors the plaintiff over the defense. The plaintiff (the side wanting the domain name) chooses the "impartial" arbitrator. The arbitrator is paid on a per-case basis, so they want to be chosen as much as possible. Litigants of course choose the arbitrators with the best history of awarding transfer to the plaintiffs. So the arbitrators will rule for the defense only in the flimsiest of cases, because they're hurting their record when they do so.

very cool - i wouldn't fuck with charles manson though - he's got too many psycho followers

I was stupid enough to have my office info on the registration for a couple weeks.
Got some WEIRD calls and letters.
Changed the info pretty quick.