It really is too bad that the UDRP is not more consistently applied to personal names. The Policy was supposed to decrease the number of domain name disputes that wound up in court. Unfortunately, given the trend under the policy, I would rarely bother with a UDRP complaint for a personal name.
As far as personal names and the UDRP go, here is a representative sampling, in chronological order. There doesn’t seem to be much consistent logic to how the decisions will come out. I recommend that anyone seeking to reclaim their “good name” use 15 USC s 1129 – and not the UDRP.
Here is a representative sampling of how personal names have fared under the UDRP (in the process of re-formatting… have some patience).
- Julia Fiona Roberts v. Russell Boyd, WIPO Case No. D2000-0210 (transferred juliaroberts.com) (Page, Abel, Bridgeman)
- Jeanette Winterson v. Mark Hogarth, WIPO Case No. D2000-0235 (transferred jeanettewinterson.com, jeanettewinterson.net, jeanettewinterson.org) (Perkins)
- Monty Roberts (transferred) (Abbot)
- Steven Rattner (transferred) (Richard)
- Skip Kendall (denied) (Partridge, Lackert, Mueller)
- Dan Marino (transferred) (Page)
- Bernardo Neustadt (transferred) (Maya)
- Bruce Springsteen (denied) (Harris, Froomkin, Page-dissenting)
- Gloria Feldt (denied) (Donahey, Abbot, King-dissenting)
- Jerry Falwell (denied) (Donahey, Cabell, Willoughby-dissenting)
- Kevin Garnett v. Trap Block Technologies, NAF Claim Number: 128073 (transferred kevingarnett.com)
- Gene Edwards (denied) (Foster)
- Dustin Diamond (denied) (Albert)
- Anna Nicole Smith(denied) (Gervaise Davis)
- Joacim Bruus-Jensen v. John Adamsen, WIPO Case No. D2004-0458
- Morgan Freeman (transferred) (Page)
- David Pecker (denied) (Isenberg)
