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Posted by paul_szynol on Wednesday, April 10 @ 02:27:04 EDT Trademark

Newsbytes reports that the WIPO decided a dispute between AST Sportswear and a private individual named Stephen Hyken, who had registered JohnnyBlaze.com and apparently utilized the domain name only by linking to another web site that, according to the article, "sport[s] a bizarre pitch for what appears to be an automobile anti-theft device." AST Sportswear charged that Hyken -- an erstwhile Elvis impersonator who, incidentally, has appeared a couple of times on the Gong Show -- was guilty of trademark confusion, intentional infringement, and, inter alia, bad faith. The company then concluded that Hyken shouldn't be allowed to keep the domain name.

The WIPO disagreed.

Johnny Blaze, as it turns out, is AST Sportswear's clothing line, a fact of which AST Sportswear insists Hyken must have been aware. For what it's worth--and maybe this says more about my sense of style than it does about general knowledge--before reading this article I'd never heard of Johnny Blaze, so I can accept the possibility that neither had Hyken. But the WIPO's decision doesn't turn on this piece of dubious logic. Johnny Blaze was apparently the moniker that Hyken chose for himself when he was still an Elvis Presley impersonator. He had used it for 25 years, had created a handsome t-shirt that had the name emblazoned on its front, and registered it with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists back in 1987. The WIPO panel concluded that Hyken thus showed a legitimate use of the name. This, in turn, gave him the right to register JohnnyBlaze.com, the consequent possibility of trademark confusion notwithstanding.

The WIPO, incidentally, treated as irrelevant the fact that the johnnyblaze.com web site contains no content that is relevant either to AST Sportswear or Hyken's career in entertainment. Determination of legitimacy was not limited to the name's use on the Internet. Nor is future use considered--though Hyken did mention that in time he might use it to promote his talents.

There are other Johnny Blazes out there--just check Google. One of them wrestles, while another wrestles with puberty, and any one of them, according to WIPO's decision, apparently has a claim to this domain name. AST Sportswear appears to have a legitimate claim to it, too. Hyken simply got to it first. Therefore, he gets to keep it.

 
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