Alleged cybersquatter changes own name to Wembleystadium.net

Bob Thomson registered the domain name in February this year. Wembley National Stadium Limited, which operates from the domain name wembley-stadium.com took action before a panel of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), arguing that the name should be transferred because it infringed the company's trade marks, that Mr Thomson had no legitimate interest in the name, and that it was registered and used in bad faith.

Mr Thomson said in his written submission to the WIPO panel, "Because of my seven-feet-tall height, and large skeletal frame, I have been commonly known as "wembleystadium.net" for many, many years." On 29th September, Mr Thomson applied to change his name by Deed Poll to wembleystadium.net, before the WIPO proceedings commenced.

The domain name was not in use, except as an e-mail address. He said he planned to use a site with the name for "general family interests and personal background."

The sole panellist took the view that Mr Thomson had presented no evidence that he is known by the unusual nickname he claims and found his assertion "just not believable."

As evidence of bad faith use of the domain name, the panellist pointed to Mr Thomson's claim that he did not deny he would sell the name, although he had said he was concerned to not make the opening offer since that could be construed against him. However, the stadium owners wrote to Mr Thomson offering to buy the name in consideration of Mr Thomson's costs in registering and maintaining the name. The panellist referred to "a hint of leverage" in Mr Thomson's replies to the company, implying, in the panellist's view, that he aimed to profit from a sale of the domain name to the trade mark owner. Accordingly, he ordered the transfer of the domain name.

In separate cases before WIPO, Dutch international and former Celtic striker Pierre Van Hooijdonk won the dot.com version of his name from Sam Tait of Airdrie. Van Hooijdonk's fellow international player Jaap Stam won the right to his dot.com name from Oliver Cohen of Pittsburgh, despite Cohen's assertion that Stam's name was known in the US, "by a minuscule number of esoteric people following sports in foreign countries."