Company files for arbitration on two domain names related to “The Tonight Show”.
Just a few weeks after Jay Leno filed for arbitration to get several domain names related to his TV show, NBC has filed for arbitration on two domain names related to The Tonight Show. Leno is stepping aside from his role on The Tonight Show for his new show, and Conan O’Brien is taking over as host.
NBC has filed two separate arbitration cases with World Intellectual Property Organization for TonightShow.com and TheTonightShow.com. It’s no wonder the company wants these domain names; its current domain for the show is tonightshowwithconanobrien.com.
Ownership information for TonightShow.com is protected by whois privacy; the last available record shows a man in Turkey. The domain is parked and shows ads for “The Jay Leno Show” and “Jay Leno Tickets”.
TheTonightShow.com is registered to a Florida man. It is also parked and shows links to “Jay Leno” and former Tonight Show host Johnny Carson.
JZ says
Why did NBC not file for arbitration for the domains Jay Leno is going after? Can Jay Leno really keep ownership of those domains, when he is not master of his domain? If you do a whois search for JayLeno.com and JayLenosGarage.com it shows the owner to be General Electric, parent company of NBC, not Jay Leno. NBC is investing millions of dollars in producing and promoting “The Jay Leno Show”, without a doubt the trademark will belong to NBC or General Electric. Are we to believe that if WIPO transfers this domain to Leno, he will be able to keep it, again, when he is not master of his domain? It should have been GE or NBC filing for arbitration, not Jay Leno.
JZ says
Jay Leno is attempting to aquire three domain names thru World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), among them is “TheJayLenoShow.com”. The question is: is he entitled to it? Although the domain name incorporates his name, all proof indicates he has sold his name to his employer NBC, Inc. GE, parent company of NBC, Inc. owns, not only JaLeno.com, but also JayLenosGarage.com. GE aquired JayLeno.com last year, details of the aquisition were not released, but by looking at the content of the website, it leaves no doubt that Jay Leno has no ownership in that domain name. As we know, Jay Leno will be hosting this fall NBC’s new talk show, titled exactly like the domain name he is going after “The Jay Leno Show”. NBC, Inc., is spending millions of dollars, producing and promoting this new show, since NBC, Inc., or GE will own the trademark for this new show(they own the trademark for all the shows they produce, including “Late Night with David Letterman”, although, Mr. Letterman left NBC 17 years ago), therefore, since Jay Leno does not even own his own domain name, should he be awarded “TheJayLenoShow.com”?, should it not be NBC, Inc., or GE, the one filing for arbitration to aquire this domain name? Since the details of GE’s aquisition of JayLeno.com are not known, if Jay Leno is awarded the domain name in question, Jay Leno will have to hand over the domain name voluntarily to NBC, Inc., or to GE, if not, they would have to file for arbitration to get it from him, which is not likely, for PR reasons, but NBC and GE will be in a bad spot, if WIPO awards the domain name to Jay Leno, and if he hands it over to them voluntarily, it just shows that at the present time he should have no ownership of this domain name, and that it should be NBC, Inc., or GE the ones filing for arbitration for it, and not Jay Leno.