Company says panelist that killed its .sport application had a conflict of interest.
Last fall Famous Four Media saw its plans to run a .sport top level domain dashed after a panelist found in favor of rival applicant SportAccord in a community objection.
Famous Four appealed the decision to ICANN through a reconsideration request and lost.
Now the company is claiming (pdf) it has found ties between the panelist that decided the case and SportAccord.
Panelist Guido Santiago Tawil is a partner at law firm M&M Bomchil. The firm represents DirecTV, and months after the .sport decision DirecTV secured broadcast rights to a number of Olympics, Famous Four says.
The International Olympic Committee is supporting SportAccord’s .sport bid, for all intents and purposes.
So Famous Four alleges that the panelist has a commercial relationship with a company that has a commercial relationship with the Olympics, which in turn has some sort of relationship with SportAccord.
Famous Four also cites a connection between Tawil and a sports communications firm that also has a commercial relationship with the IOC.
Famous Four says it is “considering all options open to it in the light of this new evidence” connecting Tawil to its opponent in the objection.
jackmur2 says
The ain’t famous for nothing!
Mike says
This type of Bias is the problem (well problem for domainers) with the UDRP process. What large law firm is going to rule in favour in favour of a domainer if he sees some potential work from the Complainant ?. Not many if any.