The National Arbitration Forum announced that a ruling has been issued in favor of Anthony Hopkins regarding rights to the Internet domain name AnthonyHopkins.com .
Anthony Hopkins,represented in this case by Stephen J. Strauss ,submitted a complaint to the National Arbitration Forum,asserting legal rights to the disputed domain name .
Even though Anthony Hopkins does not hold a trademark registration for his name,a governmental registration is not required so long as the Complainant can establish common law rights through proof of sufficient secondary meaning associated with the mark.
Therefore,he contended that the disputed domain name is confusingly similar to his name.Moreover,he contended that the respondent registered and used the domain name in bad faith .
"Respondent has intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to its website, by creating a likelihood of confusion with Complainant’s mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of its website."
However,because the respondent established all the elements required under the ICANN policy and because the respondent failed to submit a response in this proceeding,the Panel ordered the disputed domain name ne transferred from the respondent to the complainant .
- Follow us on :
