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Domain Name Disputes

Research and resources
ericbana.com

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Research and resources

The Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) is the domain name dispute resolution policy of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). It is used by registrars of top level domain names (e.g. .com, .org, .net) for resolving disputes arising over those names. Galexia has written a number of articles on the UDRP and domain name disputes:

ericbana.com

Galexia assisted actor Eric Bana in a domain name dispute against a cyber squatter before a panel of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in late 2007. Under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), the panel ordered that the domain name be transferred to Eric Bana.

The domain name ericbana.com had been registered by the cyber squatter in 2004 and used to display information about how the domain name had been acquired, to offer to sell the domain name, to ridicule Eric Bana for not paying for the domain name, and to display pornographic material.

The WIPO panel agreed that Bana had acquired a reputation through his film career sufficient to give rise to a common law right to his name, and that the domain name was identical to this trademark. The panel also agreed that the cyber squatter had no rights or legitimate interests in the name, and that the domain name had been registered and used in bad faith.

Read the decision at the WIPO database »