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Safenames Wins Domain Dispute for Legendary Poker Player, Gus Hansen
MILTON KEYNES. England, September 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Global domain name registrar and online brand protection company, Safenames, has successfully recovered the domain name, "gushansen.com", for the three-time World Poker Tour champion, Gus Hansen, using the Uniform Resolution Dispute Process (UDRP). Although Hanson did not have a registered trademark on his personal name at the time of the filing, Safenames was able to demonstrate that the domain name was registered in bad faith. Safenames proved that the defendant infringed on Hansen's common law mark, his famous personal name, because the domain was used in a manner that was publically recognizable to Mr. Hansen. Working closely with Mr. Hansen's representatives, the Safenames legal team filed the UDRP with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, Switzerland against Yevgen Kudashov. Safenames demonstrated that the registrant was effectively creating "confusion" with the public, profiting from and acting in bad faith in his registration of gushansen.com. And, that Mr. Kudashov went to great lengths in an attempt to fool the public into believing that he was actually Hansen by creating an email address that contained the Mr. Hansen's nickname "Gus the Great Dane" which was used as the WHOIS administrative contact. The WIPO Panellist found in favor of Gus Hansen, concluding that Mr. Kudashov, had no rights or legitimate interests in the domain and the name was registered and used in bad faith; ultimately ruling that the domain name should be transferred to Hansen, although the domain name was registered over five years ago by Kudashov. Safenames Head Counsel, Prudence Malinki said following the decision, "We are very pleased that Safenames was able to win this dispute for Mr. Hansen. I believe that that this ruling will pave the way for other famous individuals and celebrities to recover domain names registered to third parties who are profiting from registering domains that contain their famous personal names." Visit: http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2009/d2009-0950.html to review the full WIPO decision. Safenames Ltd Safenames, http://www.safenames.net, is a leading global domain name registration company that specializes in corporate domain portfolio management, online trademark monitoring and domain dispute services. The company is headquartered in Milton Keynes, England with regional offices in Vienna, Virginia, and Brisbane, Australia. Safenames is a privately held company founded in 1997 and became ICANN accredited in 2002.
