Jennifer Lopez wins cybersquatting case at UN agency

American singer and actress Jennifer Lopez has won a cybersquatting case against a U.S. web operator who registered two Internet addresses that used her name for commercial profit, a U.N. agency said on Thursday.

The disputed domain names, jenniferlopez.net and jenniferlopez.org, directed users to a website that generated paid advertising revenues, according to the ruling issued by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

An independent arbitrator ordered the domain names transferred within 10 days to the Jennifer Lopez Foundation, which filed the complaint. The charitable foundation promotes better access to health care for women and children.

The Grammy-nominated singer, widely known as J.Lo, joins other celebrities in ousting cybersquatters through the dispute procedure, including Pierce Brosnan, Tom Cruise, Celine Dion, Scarlett Johansson, Nicole Kidman, Madonna and Julia Roberts.

Lopez, who is from the South Bronx, registered her name as a trademark in the United States in May 1999 and has sold more than 48 million albums worldwide, according to her complaint.

A man based in Phoenix, Arizona, named as Jeremiah Tieman, registered both domain names and asserted that he ran primarily a fan site devoted to providing news and information about the star, according to the arbitrator, Williams Towns.

Tieman "registered two domain names that are identical to the complainant's mark and has used those domain names to attract Internet users to a website from which (he) generates pay-per-click advertising", Towns said in his ruling.

The American arbitrator found that the registration had been for commercial use and was in bad faith.

For the full WIPO arbitration report go here.