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ADORAIntellectual Property

WIPO D2000-0596 · 2000

Gordon Sumner, p/k/a Sting v. Michael Urvan

Complaint deniedsting.com

What the case decided

STING was too common an English word to give the complainant exclusive rights against a respondent who had used it as an online handle. The panel also found the alleged $25,000 sale demand unproven, calling the evidence merely consistent with bad faith rather than proof of it.

The parties

Complainant
Gordon Sumner, p/k/a Sting
Respondent
Michael Urvan

Read the decision

The full text is published by the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center. We summarise it here; the decision itself is the authority.

WIPO decision D2000-0596

Someone has taken a domain that uses your brand?

The first assessment is free and comes back within 24 hours. If the case is weak we say so rather than take the fee.