Soccer is quite often a rather dirty sport.
A very bizarre situation has unfolded in the Legal section of NamePros, as reported by a little birdie 😉
Someone who proclaims to be the owner of the domain name ChampionsLeague.com is still fighting against UEFA – ten whole years after a UDRP at the WIPO was decided against him.
It’s rare to have cases decided at the WIPO take longer than usual before handing over a domain, when famous marks are involved. After all, when the case of UEFAChampionsLeague.com was decided upon 10 years ago as well, the domain was promptly handed over to the Geneva-based Union of European Football Associations.
However, in the ChampionsLeague.com case, the owner – Funzi Furniture from Mombasa, Kenya – apparently managed to convince ICANN not to surrender the domain, despite the WIPO decision which was issued in favor of UEFA!
In a private communication with the alleged owner, we were told the following about the procedure that unfolded back in 2000.
[…] the UDRP has facilties to appeal any decision. I think there was a two week period to allow me to do it. Normally any appeal would go to Virginia but I argued that Kenya had a competent judicial system and at the end of the day I bought this domain whilst living in Kenya and I bought it legally so ICANN agreed we could have the appeal here. No tricks, no bribes, nothing. I have a file about three feet thick though!!
Apparently the owner is now seeking to sell the domain and has been receiving legal objections from UEFA. Meanwhile, there are numerous domains with similar keywords listed on Sedo; something that has made the owner wonder about his long-term ability to sell the domain he acquired in 1998.
