By-Lined Article
Hillary: 'It takes a Domain Name'
By Eric J. Sinrod
April 20, 2005
USAToday.com
Hillary Rodham Clinton has written a book titled "It Takes a Village." Now, she can say "It Takes A Domain Name," having just won the transfer of www.hillaryclinton.com.
The www.hillaryclinton.com domain name was registered by Michele Dinoia, aka SZK.com, of Italy. Ms. Clinton thereafter initiated an arbitration to gain the transfer of this domain to herself. She contended that the domain name was identical to her HILLARY CLINTON trademark. She argued that Ms. Dinoia did not have any rights or legitimate interests in the domain name. Ms. Clinton also suggested that the domain name was registered in bad faith.
Ms. Clinton, of course, is an internationally known political figure, who currently is a United States Senator from New York, a best-selling author, and the former First Lady of former President Bill Clinton.
Ms. Dinoia registered www.hillaryclinton.com on October 22, 2001, and thereafter used the domain name to direct Internet users to a Web site that displayed a generic search engine, links to commercial Web sites, and exposed users to pop-up ads and pay-per-click search results. Also, the domain name bookmarked itself as a visitor's homepage each time his or her Internet browser was opened.
The arbitrator ruled in favor of Ms. Clinton. First, the arbitrator found that Ms. Clinton had a common law trademark in HILLARY CLINTON as established through her political activities, and most notably her successful Senate campaign. The arbitrator next did not have difficulty in finding the www.hillaryclinton.com domain name identical to the HILLARY CLINTON mark, as the ".com" portion is irrelevant as a matter of law.
The arbitrator then agreed with Ms. Clinton that Ms. Dinoia did not prove any legitimate rights or interests in the domain name. Indeed, the arbitrator found that Ms. Dinoia was using the domain name and capitalizing on the goodwill associated with the HILLARY CLINTON mark to provide links to commercial Web sites and the like without any proof that Ms. Dinoia is commonly known somehow as hillaryclinton.com. Based on all of the foregoing, the arbitrator concluded that the registration of www.hillaryclinton.com was in bad faith, and the domain name was ordered transferred to Ms. Clinton.
Will the real Hillary Clinton please stand up?!
Eric Sinrod is a partner in the San Francisco office of Duane Morris (www.duanemorris.com), where he focuses on litigation matters of various types, including information technology disputes. His column appears Wednesdays at USATODAY.com. His Web site is www.sinrodlaw.com, and he can be reached at . To receive a weekly e-mail link to Mr. Sinrod's columns, please send an e-mail with the word Subscribe in the Subject line to .
Reprinted here with permission from USAToday.com.
