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The entire article may be viewed at http://64.4.16.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=5519f8c44b2ad9da3a64d94dc9212246&lat=1027021190&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2enewsbytes%2ecom%2fnews%2f02%2f175758%2ehtml

Elvis Impersonator Is The King In Domain Name Dispute

By Steven Bonisteel, Newsbytes.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND,
09 Apr 2002, 4:55 PM CST

****Elvis Impersonator Is The King In Domain Name Dispute 04/09/02
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, 2002 APR 9 (NB) -- By Steven Bonisteel,
Newsbytes. An almost-famous Elvis Presley impersonator who sometimes
uses the stage name Johnny Blaze will be able to keep the
JohnnyBlaze.com Internet address that a marketer of sportswear and
hip-hop clothing says it should own.

AST Sportswear of New York had complained to domain-name authorities
that former TV "Gong Show" contestant Steven Hyken of Calabasas,
Calif., was a bit of a hound-dog-in-the-manger for registering the
JohnnyBlaze.com address and then not using it for anything remotely
related to his stage moniker.

AST, which says it received a trademark for its Johnny Blaze line of
clothing two years ago, turned to the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) late last year in a bid to have Hyken labeled a
cybersquatter and evicted from the Internet address.

But David Bernstein, the New York-based intellectual property lawyer
assigned by WIPO to serve as an arbitrator in the dispute, ruled that
Hyken could keep the domain even though the address does nothing more
than point to a third-party Web site sporting a bizarre pitch for
what appears to be an automobile anti-theft device.

WIPO is among the organizations chosen by the Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers to process complaints under its
Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).

Despite the UDRP's focus on trademark rights, a host of
celebrities - including Madonna, Julia Roberts and Rip Torn - have
waded into the quasi-judicial process. However, unlike Hyken, those
celebrities were making the accusations of cybersquatting.

Arbitrator Bernstein wrote in the decision released Friday that the
case of the little-known Elvis impersonator raised "an unusual
question: If (Hyken) was previously known as 'Johnny Blaze' in the
entertainment field, does he have a legitimate interest ... in the
JohnnyBlaze.com domain name if he uses that domain name to advertise
an unrelated business?"

Bernstein said the information found today at the address, promoting
something called the uSWITCH security system AKA csswitch, "says nothing about
(Hyken's) stage career as Johnny Blaze" and so he was "hard pressed
to see how this particular use of the domain name can constitute a
'legitimate interest' in the normal understanding of those words."

However, Bernstein wrote, the UDRP's definition of a legitimate
interest includes a domain-name holder who is "commonly known by the
domain name, even if (he has) acquired no trademark or service mark
rights."

"Significantly, that section of the policy contains no restrictions
on the type of use of the domain name that is acceptable or
legitimate," Bernstein ruled. "Given that a showing of a 'legitimate
interest' can defeat a charge of cybersquatting under the policy, (an
arbitrator) must be careful to ensure that a respondent's claim that
he or she has 'been commonly known by the domain name' is
legitimate."

Bernstein ruled that he was satisfied Hyken was known as Johnny Blaze
after reading that the Elvis impersonator had appeared on the Gong
Show in the '70s, and again in a short-lived revival of the TV game
show in 1988.

In addition, the arbitrator wrote, Hyken had applied to join the
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists under the name
Johnny Blaze in 1987, and had begun the next year to sell T-shirts
that combined the moniker with the image of a flame.

Hyken's lawyer, Asher Levin, of Levy, McMahon & Levin in Encino,
Calif., told Newsbytes that the performer hopes to someday create a
Web site to promote his act. Until then, he said, Hyken has had the
domain hosted by a third party who is responsible for its current
content.

"This is a guy who doesn't even own a computer," Levin said.

Since AST filed its UDRP complaint, Hyken has petitioned the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office to have the AST registration canceled,
but Levin admitted that bid might be more difficult than defending
the domain name.

The complete ruling in the UDRP case is at
 click here
Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://64.4.16.http://64.4.16.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=c7515430a91725cf0c4bb58b7dcdd296&lat=1027021190&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2farbiter%2ewipo%2eint%2fdomains%2fdecisions%2fhtml%2f2001%2fd2001%2250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=7570023020fbb4533698610dc4c41f8d&lat=1027021190&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2enewsbytes%2ecom .

16:55  CST

(20020409/WIRES ONLINE, LEGAL, BUSINESS/CYBERSQUAT/PHOTO)

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