Virgin reality.
The challenges of being a virgin for religious purposes are big in our time and era.
The registrant of the domain VirginReality.com decided to create a reality show demonstrating exactly that.
Virgin Enterprises Limited of London, United Kingdom, decided that the dictionary word “virgin” is solely theirs, and filed a UDRP at the WIPO.
According to the complaint:
“The Complainant is the owner of a number of European Union and United Kingdom trade mark registrations consisting of VIRGIN, of which the oldest European Union trade mark was filed on April 1, 1996 and registered on September 4, 1998 under number 217182, and the oldest United Kingdom trade mark was registered on April 11, 1973 under number 1009534”
Facing the wrath of a mega-corporation, the Respondent, Al Fernandez of Palm Springs, California, stated the obvious:
The Respondent puts forward that the word “Virgin” has been used in the Bible many times and that the Domain Name is not identical or confusingly similar to the Trade Marks. According to the Respondent, the Domain Name was purchased to help the Youth of the World.
The Respondent submits it has created a reality television show, and is in negotiations with Bud Grant Productions, a former President of CBS Studio’s, to help give support and understanding of the value of being a virgin. The Respondent contends that the teenage pregnancy rate in the United States is overwhelming and that sexual abstinence is important for the young people of the world.
As the definition of “Virgin” is a person who has never had sexual intercourse, according to the Respondent the Domain Name is the most accurate for its reality television show.
In addition, the Respondent points out that the word “Virgin” has been used in the title of a number of films, television shows and books. The Respondents submits that the Domain Name currently redirects to a website at “www.tricomtv.com” as this is the website of the project writer who is looking for producers or distributors.
But all this didn’t matter to the sole panelist, Wolter Wefers Bettink, who stated that the Respondent, who was self-represented, provided no scripts for the scheduled reality show on virgin individuals.
The panelist also somehow found “malice” in the fact that the domain was being forwarded, a questionable argument about what constitutes fair use of the domain.
For the full text of this UDRP on VirginReality.com, click here.
Wrong decision. Be interesting to see how they treat VRgin com (not mine) great brand name