NBA Marketer Loses Domain Name Bid

GENEVA (AP) â€” The merchandising company for the National Basketball Association has lost its bid to take control of the domain name www.knicks.com. <br><br>In a ruling published Thursday, a United Nations-appointed

Friday, January 5th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

GENEVA (AP) â€” The merchandising company for the National Basketball Association has lost its bid to take control of the domain name www.knicks.com.

In a ruling published Thursday, a United Nations-appointed arbitrator said NBA Properties Inc. failed to prove it had the rights to trademarks relating to the New York Knicks basketball team, although it handles merchandising for all the NBA's member teams.

The domain name was originally registered by Adirondack Software Corp., of Freeport, N.Y., but has been put on hold by registrar Network Solutions since 1996 because of the dispute over ownership.

In its submission to the U.N. World Intellectual Property Organization, NBA Properties said that, in 1998, Adirondack agreed to hand over the domain name, but then never did.

When the company tried to contact Adirondack again in 1999, the letter was returned unclaimed. Adirondack also failed to reply to WIPO's request for information.

NBA Properties asked for the Web address to be transferred.

In his ruling, arbitrator William Mathis said he was not convinced that NBA Properties had the rights to the trademarks, which are owned by Madison Square Garden L.P., the owner and operator of the Knicks team.

Granting a transfer ``would place ownership of the domain name in an entity other than the trademark owner without consent from the trademark owner,'' he said.

He also found no evidence that Adirondack had registered the name ``in bad faith'' â€” for instance in order to sell the domain name for a profit, or to mislead the public.

Anyone can register a domain name for a few dollars, which has led so-called ``cybersquatters'' to file for famous names to make a fast buck from those who want the names. Some names are worth millions of dollars.

The U.N. system, which started last year, allows those who think they have the true right to a domain to get it back without having to fight a costly legal battle or paying large sums of money.

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On the Net:

WIPO's decision in the case: http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/d2000-1211.html

www.nba.com/knicks