MILTON KEYNES. England, September 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Global domain name
registrar and online brand protection company, Safenames, has successfully
recovered the domain name, "gushansen.com", for the three-time World Poker
Tour champion, Gus Hansen, using the Uniform Resolution Dispute Process
(UDRP). Although Hanson did not have a registered trademark on his personal
name at the time of the filing, Safenames was able to demonstrate that the
domain name was registered in bad faith. Safenames proved that the defendant
infringed on Hansen's common law mark, his famous personal name, because the
domain was used in a manner that was publically recognizable to Mr. Hansen.
    Working closely with Mr. Hansen's representatives, the Safenames legal
team filed the UDRP with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
in Geneva, Switzerland against Yevgen Kudashov. Safenames demonstrated that
the registrant was effectively creating "confusion" with the public,
profiting from and acting in bad faith in his registration of gushansen.com.
And, that Mr. Kudashov went to great lengths in an attempt to fool the public
into believing that he was actually Hansen by creating an email address that
contained the Mr. Hansen's nickname "Gus the Great Dane" which was used as
the WHOIS administrative contact.
    The WIPO Panellist found in favor of Gus Hansen, concluding that Mr.
Kudashov, had no rights or legitimate interests in the domain and the name
was registered and used in bad faith; ultimately ruling that the domain name
should be transferred to Hansen, although the domain name was registered over
five years ago by Kudashov.
    Safenames Head Counsel, Prudence Malinki said following the decision, "We
are very pleased that Safenames was able to win this dispute for Mr. Hansen.
I believe that that this ruling will pave the way for other famous
individuals and celebrities to recover domain names registered to third
parties who are profiting from registering domains that contain their famous
personal names."