James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan has won a landmark cybersquatting case in Geneva over a website bearing his name. The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) arbitrated in Navan man Brosnan’s favour against well-known cybersquatter Jeff Burgar.
The Irish star brought the case against a company that was a front for the now infamous cybersquatter Jeff Burgar, who redirected piercebrosnan.com to a commercial website.
Burgar has been embroiled in several other high-profile cases against celebrities and has lost court battles against Celine Dion, Pearl Jam and Pamela Anderson.
The Geneva-based United Nations copyright agency has dealt with 91 cases involving famous people and has ruled in favour of the celebrity on 77 occasions.
WIPO said Burgar’s behaviour “constitutes a pattern of conduct intended to capitalise on the goodwill associated with others’ fame for its own illegitimate purposes”.
It declared Burgar had used the domain name in bad faith. He has 10 days to appeal against the ruling, after which time the site will be transferred back to Brosnan.
By John Kennedy
