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.