by Michael Berkens
March 8, 2014
Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. (EPE) has been awarded the 20 year old domain name graceland.com by three member UDRP panel.
The domain was not parked but contained bible verses with Google Adsense which put up ads related to the former home of Elvis Presley which is now a huge tourist attraction.
The parties didn’t even agree if it was the domain owner who offered to sell the domain to the trademark holder for $200,000 or if the trademark holder offered the domain holder $200,000 for the domain.
EPE owns the domain name Graceland.org, which as the domain holder pointed out was in fact parked and not used for the tourist attraction.
Here are the relevant allegations and findings:
Complainants allegations:
The Complainant is the owner, inter alia, of registered trade marks in the USA for GRACELAND for a wide variety of goods and services. It owns over 30 domain names containing GRACELAND including <graceland.org> and <gracelandtours.info>.
The Respondent has been involved with domain name registrations since the mid 1990s and is the owner of over 40 domain names. He has owned graceland.com since 1994 and to date has never used the registration for a legitimate purpose. Almost since its inception the website has shown bible quotes and advertisements for travel, tours and merchandise relating to Elvis Presley, specifically Graceland.
source: http://www.thedomains.com
March 8, 2014
Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. (EPE) has been awarded the 20 year old domain name graceland.com by three member UDRP panel.
The domain was not parked but contained bible verses with Google Adsense which put up ads related to the former home of Elvis Presley which is now a huge tourist attraction.
The parties didn’t even agree if it was the domain owner who offered to sell the domain to the trademark holder for $200,000 or if the trademark holder offered the domain holder $200,000 for the domain.
EPE owns the domain name Graceland.org, which as the domain holder pointed out was in fact parked and not used for the tourist attraction.
Here are the relevant allegations and findings:
Complainants allegations:
The Complainant is the owner, inter alia, of registered trade marks in the USA for GRACELAND for a wide variety of goods and services. It owns over 30 domain names containing GRACELAND including <graceland.org> and <gracelandtours.info>.
The Respondent has been involved with domain name registrations since the mid 1990s and is the owner of over 40 domain names. He has owned graceland.com since 1994 and to date has never used the registration for a legitimate purpose. Almost since its inception the website has shown bible quotes and advertisements for travel, tours and merchandise relating to Elvis Presley, specifically Graceland.
source: http://www.thedomains.com