Arbitration panel awards WeWillRockYou.com to rock band.
Here’s a follow up to a story I first reported in June.
The rock band Queen filed a domain name dispute over the name WeWillRockYou.com. We Will Rock You is one of Queen’s greatest hits. The song later became the name of a musical that still tours the globe to packed houses.
A World Intellectual Property Forum has found in Queen’s favor, ordering the domain name transferred.
The panel did question why it took so long for Queen to file its claim, and said that this hurt the rock band’s case. Nevertheless, the panel felt it had enough evidence that the domain name was registered in bad faith and that the owner didn’t have rights or legitimate interests in it.
The domain owner claims he had to take leave from work upon receiving a rash of legal correspondence from the band.
Queen says it offered to buy the domain name for $10,000 and that the owner responded with a settlement offer of $250,000.
Yay for Queen. And their song, “Don’t Stop Me Now,” is one of the greatest songs ever. I think I am going to have to listen to it right now.
He turned down $10,000 ? WOW, that’s just pure greed, $10,000 is a great pay day for that. Again IMO
I wonder if Queen said “We will UDRP you” before filing. 😉
They key is this: don’t counter offer if you own a domain that MAY be trademarked. Just keep turning down the offers until one is received that meets your approval.
“We Will Rock You” was released by Queen in 1977. WeWillRockYou.Com was registered 12/03/2001. If Queen really wanted the domain name the band should have been paying the registration fees for it long before 2001. There should be a time limit established by ICANN during which an entity can take control of its intellectual property and after which it is too late. These disputes cost money which is eventually passed on to all consumers who register domain names. If an entity is not wise enough to protect its intellectual property then maybe it should hire an agent do it for them.
Does this mean they will go after other domains that correspond to their other famous songs as well?
@ UDRPtalk – I think it had more to do with the musical’s name