[Infowarrior] - Wargamer Can Keep WarGames.com

[Richard Forno]

Wargamer Can Keep WarGames.com
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/02/wargamer_can_ke.html

In MGM's bid to seize control of Wargames.com from an entrepreneur with an
online war gaming store, the only winning move was not to play.

Rogers Cadenhead registered Wargames.com in 1998 and didn't use it until MGM
started complaining last September that he was infringing the studio's
trademark.  MGM began the domain dispute resolution process to attempt to
wrest control of the web address from Cadenhead.

The studio is shooting a sequel to the 1983 classic WarGames called WarGames
2: The Dead Code, which likely explains its sudden interest in Wargames.com
a quarter-century after the fact.

But Cadenhead provided arbitrators with proof that he'd taken concrete steps
toward launching a business selling military simulation games, and he did it
two years before MGM raised any issues.  Based largely on that, the National
Arbitration Forum, which heard the case, has ruled that Cadenhead is not a
domain squatter, and can keep Wargames.com.

"The phrase 'war games' existed in the vernacular for centuries before
Complainant made a film," the ruling reads.  "Respondent's knowledge of
Complainant's film in no way establishes his intent to make a bad faith or
competitive use of Complainant¹s trademark."

MGM loses. How about a nice game of chess?