The estate of the late Elvis Presley took 20 years to get hold of Graceland.com, a domain registered in 1994; that was at the very dawn of the commercial Internet.
The UDRP against Graceland.com was brought at the National Arbitration Forum in January. Graceland.com displays Biblical quotes and content, along with Google ads.
Despite requesting a three member panel, the Respondent lost the battle based on three key points:
- The Domain Name consists of a name identical to GRACELAND plus the gTLD designation “.com.”
- The Respondent has no legitimate rights: “Whilst the Panel has dismissed the Complainant’s allegations that the Respondent has sought to sell the Domain Name to the Complainant whether for cash or in conjunction with a participation in revenue for lack of evidence (see below) the Complainant provides evidence of references on Respondent’s website such as “Elvis Graceland” which imply that the website is an official Graceland site and also advertisements of services related to Elvis Presley and the property Graceland that have been displayed on the Respondent’s site and suggests that the Respondent has used the site to promote goods and services in competition with those of the Complainant.”
- The Registration was made and used in bath faith.
The doctrine of laches was dismissed, as the three member panel was split, but in favor of the Complainant.
It’s definitely a big loss for the Respondent, Simon Higgs, who might now opt to take the matter to the courts.
You can read the entire decision here.
Who was Respondent’s attorney in this case?
Ouch! That’s gunna leave a mark.
Michaela M. Barry, California, USA.
More info about Graceland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graceland
I went to the site and what do I see? AdSense ads for Elvis’ Graceland on page one.
Fail.