Cheech & Chong Try to Smoke Out Domain Name
Monday, September 28th, 2009
Comedians file for arbitration to get domain name.
Comedy duo Richard “Cheech” Marin and Tommy Chong are reuniting — to go after the domain name CheechandChong.com. After a long separation, the pair have been making numerous appearances and a tour together. So it naturally follows that they’d want to grab the domain name. A complaint was filed World Intellectual Property Organization and should be resolved within a couple months.
The domain name is currently used by Traced Inc. as a web site selling all kinds of “paraphernalia” related to the comedians. That includes everything from DVDs to t-shirts to lighters. At the bottom of the web site is a disclaimer:
Disclaimer: Cheech and Chong Dot Com is a Cheech and Chong fan site. It is not operated by Cheech and Chong.
Perhaps it’s a fan site, but it’s basically an online store for Cheech & Chong memorabilia.
You can’t blame Cheech & Chong for not getting their hands on this domain a while ago. They couldn’t have registered it back in the seventies. And things have been a bit fuzzy since then.
Further Reading:
Cheech & Chong Try to Smoke Out Domain Name – http://tinyurl.com/yaurshf
BEANERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had a really good comment for this story, but I forgot what it was.
They’ll probably lose.
Hollow disclaimers do not negate clear-cut intent. They’re clearly profiting off what I’m assuming is a trademark, using a total bullseye, keyword match name.
This is not a fan site. It’s a commercial operation selling (presumably) trademarked goods. It would be interesting if they were actually licensed at some point to sell Cheech and Chong stuff only to have them change their minds later, but if they’re just profiting off their mark, this is a case I wouldn’t mind going to the complainant.
What Trademark? http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=searchss&state=4006:cgvchp.1.1
@ F Em – you don’t have to have a trademark filed with USPTO to have trademark rights. This is often the case with celebrity names.
The site got Cheech and Chong gigs for years and Cheech and Chong gave the site things to give away and promote, so why not just let the owner keep it? They didn’t even care about it til they reunited. The owner of the site was responsible for getting them reunited.
[...] first wrote about this story back in September, predicting that the comedians would win the case. But it wasn’t as clear cut as I originally [...]