Material Girl Domain Dispute

She’s a material girl in a material world. So, little surprise that the
diva of pop is on the prowl to claim the Madonna.com domain name under the World
Intellectual Property Organization’s shameless arbitration authority
related specifically to “famous and well-known” brands. But in this case,
there’s a catch. Showing she’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, 42-year
old Madonna Louise Ciccone is under the eccentric impression she’s the most
famous woman to ever take the name.

In a classic turnabout-is-fair-play, Madonna happens to be trying to
wrestle the domain from Dan Parisi, the infamous owner of New Jersey-based
WhiteHouse.com. Not only is Parisi
a reluctant peddler of porn on the Web, he’s also registered a who’s-who
list of more than 500 blue-chip corporate names with the suffix
‘sucks.com.’ His grand scheme was to originally build a portal for
consumers to air their grievances on virtually any Fortune 500 company.
Parisi even shelled out $5,000 for the domain Microsoftsucks.com to pry it
from one lucky individual who’d already claimed the name.

So what’s all this have to do with Madonna.com? Well, for starters, Parisi
is well-schooled on his rights related to the domain name game in addition
to being a pseudo-activist on the subject. He’s a rabble-rousing graybeard
who’s tangoed with the likes of Netscape over his use of the domain
NetscapeSucks.com, long before issues of free speech and trademark law on
the Internet made intriguing water-cooler chit-chat.

Additionally, Parisi is no stranger to riding the nerves of some prominent
Beltway Boys. A couple of moons ago, a handful of overanxious Congressmen
tried unsuccessfully to pass legislation that would have made it illegal to
use government agency names for commercial Web properties. The bottom line
is – Parisi wasn’t spooked by Netscape’s legal saber-rattling or lawmakers’
attempts at creating an unconstitutional roadblock, and he’s not likely to
blink now.

Part of the WIPO criteria used to determine if a domain is considered a
famous and well-known brand and if it should be delivered to the
Complainant (in this case Madonna), is whether the Respondent (Parisi)
registered and used the domain in “bad faith.” Typically, bad faith can be
charged if the registrant has actually attempted to sell the domain name to
the Complainant or any highest bidder. That hasn’t happened in this case,
and that’s about the only avenue Madonna could have taken to hijack the
domain from Parisi.

The only other recourse would be to argue that Madonna Ciccone is the most
famous figure in the history of mankind to have ever taken the name
Madonna. So, the Material Girl had better get used to scrounging for domain
name scraps like everyone else. And who knows, perhaps she’d have better
luck laying claim to primadonna.com.

Any questions or comments, love letters or hate mail? As always, feel
free to forward them to kblack@internet.com.

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