James Bond evicts cybersquatter

GENEVA: James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan has won a legal battle to claim the Internet Web site bearing his name, international arbitrators ruled.

The Irish star brought the case against a company which was a front for the now infamous cybersquatter Jeff Burgar, who redirected piercebrosnan.com to a commercial Web site.

Burgar has been involved in several other disputes over celebrity Web sites and has lost cases against singer Celine Dion, rock group Pearl Jam and former Baywatch beauty Pamela Anderson.

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (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.

The United Nations copyright agency has dealt with 91 cases involving famous people and has ruled in favour of the celebrity on 77 occasions.

© Reuters