Boy ordered to give up Narnia website - .Mobi

[Billy!]

A SCOTTISH schoolboy must surrender a Web address tied to the Narnia fantasy world, which his father says he gave him as a present, after a ruling by a United Nations arbitrator.

The UN's patent and copyright agency WIPO said the independent arbitrator had ordered transfer of the site, www.narnia.mobi, to the estate of C.S.Lewis, late author of the popular Chronicles of Narnia books.

"We are shocked by the decision," Gillian, the mother of 11-year-old Comrie Saville-Smith told the Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh after they were given advance notice of the ruling on Wednesday.

"We put up a spirited fight because we wanted to prove that you do not have to hand something over just because someone richer and more powerful tells you to do so," she said.

The case was brought to WIPO by the multi-billion dollar Lewis estate, registered in Singapore, in May as Prince Caspian, the second of a planned series of films of the Chronicles, was about to go on worldwide release.

The estate's lawyers, the US-based Baker and McKenzie, filed the complaint in May after the Saville-Smiths rejected offers to buy back the site, for which they paid £70 ($140) when the .mobi domain went in sale in 2006.

Media in Scotland have portrayed the case as a Narnia-like battle between a family determined to defend what they see as justice and a wealthy corporate giant - a theme some have compared to the "good v. evil" thread in the books.


http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24074857-23109,00.html#

 

[DomainMayhem.com]

While I feel badly for the boy, the father should have known better. Have they never heard of TM's in Scotland? The word Narnia belongs to C.S. Lewis' estate, period.

 

[yandig]

I'm sure C.S. Lewis never envisioned this when he wrote The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe!

Someone should tell the dad that WipoSucks.mobi is available to register :hehe:

 

[deleted984054565403]

I don't buy the e-mail address story for a second. :imho: The domain was parked at Sedo.

 

[thebrokenbox]

lol! If it's parked at Sedo that's funny. It's a shame but no one should mess with TM's

 

[Keith]

They deserve to lose. They parked it with links
to the Chronicles of Narnia owned by the plaintiff :lol:

Rookie mistake!!

LOL, it's still parked with the links. I wonder when they'll
take it down??

 

[bizcorp]

Yeah they should of thought about it when they first gave the name to the boy. Did they boy develop it? or did he park it on sedo? Sounds like he didn't do much with the name..

 

[footodors]

Kid loses narnia.mobi

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25849659/

I especially like this line:
"We put up a spirited fight because we wanted to prove that you do not have to hand something over just because someone richer and more powerful tells you to do so"

They are shockingly oblivious to the obvious.

Domaintools shows their ownership of 32 other domains, so they are not completely ignorant.

Funny, it's an income generating parked page.
Doh!

 

[bmugford]

Yeah, I think there is more to this story than has been reported. I am not sure I believe they "They stole my kid's domain" angle of it.

 

[mwzd]

Using their kid to cover for their cybersquatting activities is despicable.

This has been discussed before... and the consensus was the same.

They should be brought up on criminal charges for using a kid in aiding and abetting a criminal act.

 

[PowerUp]

Here's what's ironic.
They have 32 other domains. Show's there's a high probability they are trying to profit from domains. So why didn't they sell when they were offered the money?

 

[hanny]

Using their kid to cover for their cybersquatting activities is despicable.

That I can agree with, I don't know about the other charges though.

 

[bmugford]

Yeah..It's your kid's domain name for email. That is why you own 30+ Domains, and the domain is parked to generate revenue.

The guy has probably generated a ton of clicks since this story has been out there.

 

[PowerUp]

Yeah..It's your kid's domain name for email. That is why you own 30+ Domains, and the domain is parked to generate revenue.

The guy has probably generated a ton of clicks since this story has been out there.

I wonder if the revenue from clicks enough to cover legal fees.

 

[Dave_Z]

whose own lawyer is another WIPO domain-name dispute panelist

Hmm, interesting...

 

[Michael]

I called BS on this in mid-June, see here:
http://domainraiders.com/the-liar-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe/

Even have a screenshot of the parked domain. The dad should be ashamed of himself using his own son as an excuse to infringe on a TM.