LONDON (Brand Republic) – Bob Thompson, a seven-foot tall man who claimed his nickname was “Wembleystadium.net”, has lost the right to the domain name following a court appeal by the Wembley National Stadium company.
The company successfully argued to the World Intellectual Property Organisation, which deals with such domain name disputes, that the name Thompson was using was confusingly similar to the company’s registered trademarks -- Wembley and Wembley National Stadium.
Thompson argued that the company had no exclusive rights to the Wembley name and that he had been known by the nickname Wembleystadium.net for many years.
In its ruling, Wipo said it found Thompson’s case was “just not believable”.