May 11, 2005, 12:51 PM PDT
Freeman scores cybersquat knockout
It's been a winning year for actor Morgan Freeman. First he nabbed a best supporting actor Oscar for his performance in "Million Dollar Baby." Now he's triumphed in a cybersquatting battle over the Internet domain name www.morganfreeman.com.
Freeman, 67, complained that the name--registered by the company Mighty LLC--was being used to divert Internet traffic to a commercial search engine, according to the BBC News and other sources.
On Tuesday, independent arbitrator Peter Nitter backed the actor, ruling that Mighty LLC, in a "bad faith" move, misused Freeman's trademark to lure surfers to its website.
The ruling was announced by the World Intellectual Property Organization, or WIPO, a U.N. agency that promotes the protection of trademarks and patents.
Sponsor: Gehrke & Associates, SC -- Intellectual Property and Technology Law
