Famous actor and philanthropist Brad Pitt has been awarded the domain name BradPittApp.com in a decision by the National Arbitration Forum (NAF). This was an interesting case as the one person panel decided that the respondent (who did not respond to this case) registered the name in bad faith and has no rights or legitimate interests in it because: 1) Brad Pitt holds the “common law rights in the BRAD PITT mark dating back at least to 1991.” 2) The complainant has no relation to or never gave permission to the respondent to use or register the domain 3) The respondent did not utilize the domain and it resolves to an inactive site with no content.
Here is a great example of how owning a TM or personal name of a famous person and doing absolutely nothing with the domain/website can still get you in trouble. The fact the respondent never responded to this case I’m sure helped Pitt secure this domain quite easily through NAF.
