WIPO D2000-0596 · 2000
Gordon Sumner, p/k/a Sting v. Michael Urvan
Complaint deniedsting.com
In Gordon Sumner, p/k/a Sting v. Michael Urvan, D2000-0596 (WIPO, 2000), the panel denied the complaint, holding that STING was too common an English word to give the complainant exclusive rights against a respondent using it as an online handle. An alleged $25,000 sale demand was unproven, 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.
Summarised by Gergana Dimitrova, who worked at the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center from 2018 to 2021 and sits as a domain name panelist at the Czech Arbitration Court. Full background.
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