Madrid 2012, S.A. DEMANDS domain names from MadridMan!

I NEED A LAWYER!

MadridMan owns the following domain names:
MADRID2012.com, 2M12.com, 2M12.org, 2M12.info

The company promoting Madrid's 2012 Olympic bid
is DEMANDING them, claiming "intellectual property rights".

I NEED A LAWYER! ¡NECESITO ABOGADO!

If you happen to have any suggestions/tips/insights/helpful-contacts, please email me directly and immediately!

CLICK HERE for more details and information on the sad, sordid, subject.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The world already has ENOUGH INJUSTICE!

Saludos, MadridMan

Im not surprised that they want the domain. But considering that they are trying to get it from you with total disregard to your rights and the fact that you bought em is uterily wrong they sould offer you money at least. Demanding to get the site domains for free is obviously wrong legally and ethcily so I support you MadridMan good luck. You bought em they want em for free. Good Luck with finding a lawyer.

Hi MMan,

Wow! Just wanted to tell you that you have all my support.
Unfortunately, though JoeSambuca does call me "'abogado'" I am not. But I work at Lycos Spain and tomorrow I'm due back at the office, so hopefully I'll be able to ask some expert on these sorts of things (the bad news is they might all still be on vacation! )

This all sounds to me as a 'pez grande' trying to "eat" a 'pez chico'....

Saludos,

pim

How many domains do you own?

You really thought ahead on this issue and actually you stand to make a lot of money on your investment.

If you have no intention of giving up these URL's that you purchased, then you will need to pay a good international lawyer. (You get what you pay for in any judicial system.)

Otherwise, offer to sell them. It should finance your travels, you wise domain owner.

MadridMan,

Have you contacted the Columbus/Ohio Bar Association? They may have a Volunteer/Pro Bono section that could direct you to an IP lawyer who needs to fulfill his/her pro bono requirement for the year.

jmc

Wow! Never heard of that, but thanks for that tip, jmcarr! I'll check into it. Thanks!

MadridMan,

Important point. Did you register those names prior to their organization being started? If you did, they can suck air. They're trying to "extort" them from you, even though you owned the rights prior to their existence. You'd have tremendous leverage, and if they want one, make them pay big time, because of their actions. But, above all, make them come to you to buy it.

Second point. To insure you registered those names with creative intent, put something up on each of the names in question. That will eliminate their opportunity of saying you registered them strictly to force them to pay a large fee to you to use the names.

Just a couple of suggestions that might help you get a handle on this issue. The first point is the big one. They should have thought before they leaped.

Wolf

My two cents.

I don't think the space you're talking about matters because domain names contain no spaces hence madrid 2012 would only be able to be translated into a domain name as madrid2012.

Wolf is right you should put up some creative content. Err..however, if they look at your message board and see posts indicating intentions for monetary gain, but later see content, I think they'd be able to put 2 and 2 together.

Errrr ¿somebody could please tell me the difference between this case and the dominion "squatters" or whatever name is?

I take that MM registered his dominion with good will, but it happens that it looks like he hurried to register the names just when Madrid Olympic candidature was beginning to be raised, with only two days of difference with the Official Madrid City Olympics Committee trial to register. :p

First of all, I'd ike to say that I am in favor of the so called cyber squatters, since I believe that many times they are not stealing anything but making profit on their creativeness, like cash-card.com or yupi.com, or ole.es.

I am also for those who were inspired enough to register domains that do not belong to anybody because they are geographic accidents or names, like Madrid.com, Barcelona.com, or Canarias.com, which happens to be property of a friend of mine.

That said, although you needn't know it, this society existed by then, was legally established with that name, and, according to law, as far as I know, they are most probably going to obtain the domain. However, they can negotiate to get it sooner (I doubt it, they have lots of time ), like when Telefonica paid 2.000.000 $ for Telefonica.com that had been registered by chilean or argentinian cyber squatters.

Link about the firm\'s creation. (spanish)

Good luck!

P.D: (EDIT) Imagine I did't know that NFL had a redistered mark or was a Company, and I registered NFLchampionship2004. It's obvious they had a brand and a name first.

P.D.D.:

As for 2M12.com and the rest, that could mean anything, so you can wprobalby win.

They probably didnt register the site with a hyphen because they're following the trend. www.athens2004.com

MadridMan,
This is disgusting! What a farce! I feel terrible for you MM. Do you have any threads going back before their demand date that documents your interest in this domain name. You could claim that they got it from you originally.

Have you tried to use the media to help out with this.
...Ohio man sued by Madrid Olympic Committee...
This might attract the attention of an international attoney that might be interested in making a name in the courts, and perhaps money from these bozos!
It might also help to get this news out in the BLOGS out there.

Keep the faith, MM, we are with you!
Carmen
p.s. The first thing we need to find out is if the lack of a space makes a difference. We need to start searching the web for similar suits and see what has transpired in these. We need access to Lexis-Nexis for this search. I'll se if I can find someone with this tyoe of access, MM and I'll e-mail you.

By the way, MM, Madrid2012 is NOT a private company, as you say in your link AFAIK, itseems to be a public one (at least from the spanish law point of view) since it is created by the Town Council and most probably it has most or all the shares.

Why don't you write Mr. Gallardón? In spite that I hate his Opus-style education and ultra-conservative way of thinking, I think he is one of the few honest politicians in Spain, he is pragmatic, and fair ... to a point. And he is the last power behind Madrid 2012!

If you want I will translate the mail into spanish. I'm quite good at that.

Anyway, when I first posted here about Madrid 2012 and a few days later you anounced you had registered those domains, my first thoughts were that in Spain you would not have any chance of holding them. There have been lots of domains which have been taken from people who had registered them in favor of companies which had a trademark.

I really don't know how it works internationally, but it seems they have been somewhat agressive. Why not trying to reach an agreement instead of courting directly? Don't know...

Fernando

Hola Fernando,

The reason those people are aggressive is because most individuals don't want to be involved in a lawsuit. They are using "scare tactics" taught in TORTS 1001! It's the easy road. Decency does not enter into certain business practices.

Saludos,
Carmen

MM- re using the media- you're right as things can go either way- however, any way they look at it, instead of confronting you and asking you nicely- they want to come in and take something from you that's rightfully yours- the fact that they've been aggressive from the beginning- is not good publicity for them- something to consider. The fact that they lacked the forsight to secure the domains beforehand gives them no right to be nasty about it now that they're scrambling to make up for their mistakes. And negative publicity over something so minor would not favor Madrid in the bid (although I hope they do get it) they're already playing nasty- something that contradicts the Olympic spirit. How do they propose to positively pubicize the Games when they're being so irrational.

Sorry I'm not a lawyer- I'd take your case - but I think I speak for all of us: if you need a petition or anything you can think will help us support you- we will.

As for the publicity reflecting negatively- it could do the opposite- your regular posters certainally recommend your site to other people and something like this would actually peak the curiousity of people who have never posted before: they may actually be doing you a favor!
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!

A question to MadridMan-Why is it so important that you retain the rights to the domain names?

I wouldn't stand on principle with an organization that has much deeper pockets than you. It sounds like a fight you can't win. Don't throw good money after bad.

Get them to throw you a bone, like a link on their site!

I stand with the group on principle but I disagree on practicality.

I like your line of reasoning Mongo. At least they could offer MM compensation for the names. You're right about the negative publicity. I'd run with that in the Spanish press and see what happens.

I agree with Mongo. If they're wrong which they probably are they will not admit it. They will just try and screw you and take advantage of the difference in laws and the fact that you're in the U.S. and they're in Spain. Being that RED TAPE seems to be a favorite pastime in Spain I forsee a humongous headache with this thing. I would first get the legal low down. Who's at fault. Then I would confront them and say listen you guys are wrong and I'm not moving on this. You can either push me and create bad publicity for Spain and Spain's bid for the olympics or let's come to a deal. Remember your website and the others affiliated with you are major websites geared toward foreigners! Could you imagine the amount of bad publicity that could be generated?

LOL I have a feeling that they will push and push and make your life hell until the verdict comes in. If Madrid gets it then they will probably act uncharacteristically and take the initiative and GET SOMETHING DONE and settle with you. If Madrid loses the bid you'll probably never hear from them again.

What you should do is register Madrid2016 and so on every 4 years to really give it to em!

My opinions probably seem stupid. I'm no lawyer or anything but maybe the more opinions you'll get you can cover all your bases.

As far as publishing an advert. There is a magazine affiliated somehow with the SPain-US chamber of commerce. You can subscribe to it for free. Maybe you could take an advert in that since I think that mag. is published independently and really has no official tie to the CoC. May be a dead-end but let me know if you're interested in finding out more.

Dear MM:
I am very sorry I can give you nothing more effective, but you have all my simpaty and support.
Now you REALLY know Spain. It`s this way, a state where law is not as mighty as sheer political power.
It is a shame the way they are harassing you, especially when you have done SO MUCH for Madrid and Spain in general. Your work as an ambassador for tourists who seek for information about Spain is simply amazing. Many people wouldn`t bother to work so hard for a salary, and you have been doing it for free for years! They should make you a monument and instead they attack you! If eventually you decide to resist, I think the best thing you can do is telling the whole story to the media. You will arise a lot of simpathy, I think the average citizen will understand how unfair all this matter is, and besides they will all feel flattered by the way you love Spain.
And all this comes just in the middle of the Tamayo affair!! Really Spanish polititians stink. Every passing day I am happier that one day I decided to became an anti-Spanish separatist.
By the way, perhaps you will enjoy the way Groucho faced a similar problem as yours.
http://www.chillingeffects.org/resource.cgi?ResourceID=31

Madrid Man

None of your domains include the word Olympic or Olympics, so it would be difficult to argue that you were trying to benefit in any way from the Olympic bid or the Olympics themselves (if they happen) when you registered any of those domains. If you had madridolympics2012.com, well that would clearly be different, but you could have registered madrid2012.com to discuss the possibility of an earthquake hitting the city that year, or the premonition you had that Madrid would host the Eurovision Song Contest that year, or anything.

I have read of cases where certain URL’s have been deemed by the courts to infringe intellectual property rights, but these were usually specific to a person or company/brand with a well known name or TM, and which had been so prior to the registration of the domain. I don’t think either of those criteria apply in this case. You might be interested to know that the musician Sting failed in his attempt to capture the URL www.sting.com from its owner because the court ruled that the word ‘sting’ was common currency and did not belong exclusively to Sting the musician (aka Mr Gordon Sumner) - and quite right too!

Also, have you contacted the International Olympic Committee about this matter? If Madrid 2012 are seeking to strip you of your legitimate ownership of those domains by means of threat, coersion, defamation or whatever - ie. not fighting fair - then one would hope that the IOC would take a pretty dim view of this and it would at the least reflect badly on the city’s Olympic bid.

On a more general point, I think the Olympic games themselves are a bloated dinosaur that should either be severely slimmed down or laid to rest completely. They have assumed far more importance (at least, to politicians) than they are worth, and the costs considerably outweigh the benefits. I live in London, which unfortunately is also bidding to host the 2012 games - and I sincerely hope that it fails. I don’t know any Londoner who actually wants them here, because we all know that we’ll have to foot the bill through higher local taxes - for years - and they will cause us increasing disruption. And what will your average citizen get out of it? Absolutely nothing. Yes, certain businesses (in certain areas) will profit, and there may be some benefits for their employees, but the vast majority of Londoners will merely be footing the bill for a grandiose PR exercise and ego-boost for a handful of politicians. There - I feel better now!

Best of luck keeping your domain names Madrid Man!

MM...my Man! Yeah, I agree that you shouldn't go broke over this but don't roll over and play dead either! I was hoping that this wouldn't sour your feelings towards Madrid or Spain because it could easily happen, especially when you've done so much to promote the city. I've learned so much about Madrid from your logs that I feel as I've been there and would have no difficulty in visiting the city. You should write letters to the major newpapers editors of Madrid, send copies to Spain's official website, contact the Spanish Ambassador's office to the US. Who knows, they may do something for you, and definately contact the IOC. Cristobo is totally correct in mentioning how much you've done to support Madrid and Spain.

These guys aren't playing fare and their tactics should be exposed! You've got my support, bro!

MadridMan,

I think your first priority should be to draft a response to the body that will be making the decision as to whom the name belongs. I certainly wouldn't be sending anything to anyone who is either part of, or indirectly involved in, the movement in Madrid. That could only be harmful to your case, in my opinion.

Consider this. They claim you are using those names to prosper. Of course you are. Why else would you bother to pick up addresses? But it's obvious that you must have bought other names prior to that one, and that in itself shows that you were doing business, as usual, long before they even considered their own involvement in a movement for the Olympics.

They there's the time frame within which they filed their objection. If they really had intended to use these names, why didn't they file objections back then, instead of now? No. They waited, and now when they are "certain they want the addys," they are trying to coerce them out of you by force.

Regardless of who is a member of the body that makes these decisions, they should hear both sides of the story. I believe it's in your best interests to put all your data together, and send them a complete listing of all the moves you made with addys, to show them that you were doing business, and they are part of your business. Also indicate that you have never been contacted by these people. That this is the first you heard of the situation.

Above all, don't let those bozos steam roll you. You have rights, and no matter what, they have to be protected. If you haven't gotten any help yet, you might also contact the American Civil Liberties Union, because they have been known to take on big guys who try to screw the little ones.

Just don't knuckle under. If that happens, someone will be coming for the madridman.com as well. Apparently they think they have rights far beyond those that applies to others. What a crock.

Wolf

If one is interested (or has 30-minutes to kill), one can read the Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy HERE .

And also Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy ...:

a. Applicable Disputes. You are required to submit to a mandatory administrative proceeding in the event that a third party (a "complainant") asserts to the applicable Provider, in compliance with the Rules of Procedure, that
(i) your domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights; and
(ii) you have no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and
(iii) your domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith. In the administrative proceeding, the complainant must prove that each of these three elements are present.

b. Evidence of Registration and Use in Bad Faith. For the purposes of Paragraph 4(a)(iii), the following circumstances, in particular but without limitation, if found by the Panel to be present, shall be evidence of the registration and use of a domain name in bad faith:
(i) circumstances indicating that you have registered or you have acquired the domain name primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain name registration to the complainant who is the owner of the trademark or service mark or to a competitor of that complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of your documented out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name; or
(ii) you have registered the domain name in order to prevent the owner of the trademark or service mark from reflecting the mark in a corresponding domain name, provided that you have engaged in a pattern of such conduct; or
(iii) you have registered the domain name primarily for the purpose of disrupting the business of a competitor; or
(iv) by using the domain name, you have intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to your web site or other online location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant's mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of your web site or location or of a product or service on your web site or location.

c. How to Demonstrate Your Rights to and Legitimate Interests in the Domain Name in Responding to a Complaint. When you receive a complaint, you should refer to Paragraph 5 of the Rules of Procedure in determining how your response should be prepared. Any of the following circumstances, in particular but without limitation, if found by the Panel to be proved based on its evaluation of all evidence presented, shall demonstrate your rights or legitimate interests to the domain name for purposes of Paragraph 4(a)(ii):
(i) before any notice to you of the dispute, your use of, or demonstrable preparations to use, the domain name or a name corresponding to the domain name in connection with a bona fide offering of goods or services; or
(ii) you (as an individual, business, or other organization) have been commonly known by the domain name, even if you have acquired no trademark or service mark rights; or
(iii) you are making a legitimate noncommercial or fair use of the domain name, without intent for commercial gain to misleadingly divert consumers or to tarnish the trademark or service mark at issue.
---------
Have a nice weekend, everyone! My mind will be swimming with this issue. Ugh. I will not "knuckle under"!

Saludos, MadridMan

Puppyfeat:

I don't agree with your basic premises:

- Madrid2002 IS a registered society name, and it WAS so, before MM's buying the domain. The fact that MM did not know that doesn't alter that fact.

- I am not pretty sure on how known is that society in Spain (it's range of activity). I am not specially fond on Olympics, but maybe it's well know in those areas of activity.

Then, again, I don't think it will be necessary to be well known neither in the country nor internationally. Else, only Coca-Cola, Toyota and some more makes would be protected. "Peter and Joe, taylors", e.g., should also be able (with the logic used in these cases) to register peterandjoetaylors.com and so on. This is NOT the same as "smilebehappy.com", this is a brand name or society name. What would you think if I registered billclinton.com or josemariaaznar.com?

And then, I am no lawyer but, as I said before, I have a friend who used to buy domains (is the owner of many still today). We have spoken quite a bit on the issue, and I have read a lot because of this, cause we had plans to colaborate that did not come out in the end. There is (or there was) two ways to claim a domain that's been registered by someone else: Courts and an international organization on Arbitrage? (is this the word?) that is kind of an administrative stance whose resolutions are as firm as a court. Back then, this was the usual way of claiming domains holded by someone else.

Considering you don't have a brand or a society name called madrid2012, and they do, and prior to your registration of the domain, that you didn't have there BEFORE the demand contents related with Madrid 2012, and so on, I believe that you have really scarce possibilities, if we look at the past cases. But I may be wrong.

Hummm. Sorry! it seems I read your registration data wrong.

Well, then you were earlier by two days. That may be suspectable but the fact is that you were registering a name that was nobody's else before. This changes all (by now). I suspect they might have hidden aces. So, if the trade mark was asked for, who did it? Because Madrid2002 didn't exist. And then, who is that somebody (¿Fundación Madrid Nuevo Siglo?) and what ELSE rights it may have through intellectual property of any other kind?

Now we are really beginning to walk in investigation/lawyers land.

In Spain, usually it takes a month or even several to get a brand or trade mark approved.

MadridMan,

I agree with your interpretation. Had they really been interested in madrid2012, they would have done something with it much earlier. I doubt they ever considered themselves seriously involved in any act to get the Olympics there, on that date.

Essentially they are claiming the right to "own" anything that starts with madridXXXX.com, if they so choose. To me, they are acting in bad faith. They did nothing to warrant this exclusive right.

But the key to whether or not they can usurp the name from you will come based on your response to the governing group. Your response must be well thought out, offer specific details of your right to the domain names, and indicate your prior decisions to use them to create and improve your business. I believe you can do that, through the course of what you did prior to that time, to create the business you have.

Always remember this one issue. It is up to them to "prove" you operated in bad faith, and if the thread of business is properly laid out, they won't have a leg to stand on.

There's also the fact that they have never bothered to contact you about usage of the name. Then, when they decided they wanted it, after the fact, came after you.

Apparently some people believe that they have the right to these names. I totally disagree from a legal and moral standpoint. You entered the names in good faith, and have used them in good faith. Now you show the board the facts, and hope that they make the right decision, based on the facts, not on political and monetary clout. If there's one thing that will ruin the internet it will be people with deep pockets having their way with others, just because they have deep pockets.

Wolf

I think Wolf is absolutely correct, your response is very important, it really will be the only chance to give thorough account/explanation of the purpose of the domain names.

This site has provided people with so much info of all aspects of Spain, and will be of tremendous help to thousands if and when planning to trips to Spain , with or without Olympics.
2012 special section on this site, with its proven track record, should be automatic when thinking of all the different aspects of interest that possible Olympics will bring to people's mind .
Whether accomodation, travel, sights, history or local info, questions DO GET answers here, most often with local knowlegde and expertise.
Fight hard!!

This sounds like a typical "bully manouver", often the tone changes after a stern letter from a lawyer, but the "governing body" needs a clear, precise and thorough explanation first.

MadridMan,

Step #1 in your process should be requesting a complete copy of the complaint be sent to you, properly interpreted into English, since it's your primary language. I believe the arbitrator can arrange that.

This will make it easier for you to address each issue. I would suggest you do that as soon as possible, so there isn't a problem getting it to you on time.

Above all, do not allow this proceeding to go forward using Spanish, because as good as you are in the language, you're that much at loss in the nuances of the language itself.

You have a right to this I believe.

Wolf

True, that's exactly what would happen. WIPO is like a court in Internet domains. Just like a court can make you leave your home if you don't pay the mortgage in time. They are the ones to decide. Unless...

... unless you go to court. AND then, there is the jurisdictional matter: If I recall well, the process should be made in the country where the domain was registered (and so, aplying their laws).

Opposite to what`s been said before, Spanish laws in this matter, are more protective to stablished company's interests regarding registration requirements, but not regarding who has the right to the name. About this, there seem to be a world consensus that benefits big companies against Internet enterpreneurs.

However, I believe that, being Justice in USA more like ¿"consuetudinary"? (based on previous sentencies, and with a big kudge autonomy) law, following the anglo-saxon model, it is more unpredictible the result than with the Spanish continental style where most aspects are regulated by law. In the USA the difference between an expert lawyer and one who isn't has more influence in the final result.

Maybe it's interesting for you to ask for the ordinary jurisdiction and reject the WIPO authority in this case if possible (I have got a vague idea that you can do this).

If something is becoming more and more clear to me after this debate is that, because o the said, it is ot urgent that you look for a lawyer that is expert in Internet law, but it is very urgent. If what I mentioned before was posible, e.g., time would be counting and there could be deadlines for changing jurisdiction.

Ignacio,

That appears to be correct. MadridMan can sue them in the American courts, in his own town. The complainant has that right, and it's up to them to seek out, and use a lawyer/lawyers, in that jurisdiction. He has 10 days to provide proof to the arbiter that he has began proceedings. In effect, this would delay any transfers of the name until after the courts render their verdict.

The number one facet of American law that would prevail is that there must be "proof" that MadridMan acted in bad faith, and it will be up to them to provide solid evidence to that effect.

Since there is no such proof, and couldn't be, they would have to present the fabricated case they presently have, to even have any reason to step forward.

This process would be very costly to them, and they obviously would lose.

Personally, if I was forced into the same position as MadridMan, and had to file a petition in the courts, I would add on a hefty fee for the damage caused to his business and reputation, under these conditions. If a judge finds in his favor, chances are he would also be given a fairly substantial sum of money that would more than cover his costs of litigation.

Wolf

Hola MadridMan,
I just sent you some information to your e-mail address posted in your profile. Hope you get it.
Besos,
Carmen

Expediente means file, judical procedure, ...
I'd select file.

link to translation

Hi Madridman,

I just comeback from Spain on friday, thinking of writing you the short story of my holiday, when I saw what its happening to you...Oh dear, oh Dear...
Let me first say that I agree with you 100%, if they are slow in registering the domain names and someone is faster, its totally their fault.
However, recently on an Italian website, I saw a similar case.
A guy, called Giorgio Armani, few years ago, register the domain giorgioarmani.com , because of his job, now a court ruled out that he should give (for free, I guess) his domain name to the fashion designer Giorgio Armani becasue he is more famous (and richer) that him. This is a scandal,una puta mierda.
We are all with you and hopefully you get some cash out of this people...

Un saludo,

Salva

I know a couple of people addressed the issue of WHEN you registered the domains - I didn't see your response but that could be because I was reading the posts rather quickly. I would think that the timing of the registration, along with SOMETHING being on each site, would cover you at least to the extent that you had a legal comfort zone.

The entire issue of creative rights/patents/ etc. is under intense scrutiny and legal hassling (at least in the US) as you know. Is there any organization of "creative web people" that you might contcat for support at least in the realm of information and resources? Believe me - this isn't the first time something like this ahs happened - there's got to be a solid amount of documentation and resource tools on a matter like this.

MM, can you find any non-official sites for the Athens Olympics? If not, there must be a reason for it.

Many months ago they sent threatening emails/letters to everyone *linking* to the official site! Here is their hyperlink policy: http://www.athens2004.gr/page/default.asp?id=333&la=2

It may also be worth contacting the owners of other Madrid2012-related domains, who must have received the same letter as you.

D

MM, consider Pre-Paid Legal. I have used this service numerous times, and always with a great outcome. go to www.prepaidlegal.com. to check it out.

MM...how are things going with your domaine name battle? Were you able to get any legal help? Keep us posted when you can....

Hi OsoMajor. Thanks for asking. No, I wasn't able to get any legal help in the end so I did it myself. I've already submitted my response and now just waiting for the review and the ruling. I'll let you all know when the decision is made.

Saludos, MadridMan

Ojala...que todo salga bien!

Good afternoon everyone.

I have been asked a few weeks ago by a friend of mine and member of this forum to go give my opinion of this topic. Sorry for getting here so late but we have been very busy at work (as usual).

I am a lawyer and my firm here in Madrid specializes in intellectual property law.

I have read some of the posts on this topic and I understand the support MadridMan receives from all of you, it is very nice and helpful to him for sure.

Unfortunately, these WIPO cases are pretty straightforward and sadly this case will not have a positive outcome for MadridMan.

It all comes down to the following:

1) The madrid2012.com domain will be lost since it is the exact name of the company that has started the arbitration process. This company existed before MadridMan registered the domain in question. No need to go any further.

2) The 2M12.com/.org/.info domains will be lost since they are composed of the official registered trademark of the Madrid 2012 olympics ("2M12"). This trademark was registered well before MadridMan registered the domains and is all over the marketing and publicity that the city does for the olympics.

MadridMan, I think you were unsucessful in getting free legal help due to the fact that we (lawyers and firms who specialize in this material) know that most cases that are brought to arbitration are lost by the defendant (about 98% of them), hence the long hours put into the defence end up being wasted and worse than worse if they are pro-bono hours.

Arbitration with WIPO is taken very seriously and it cost the people at Madrid 2012 S.A. $1,500 U.S. Dollars to start the arbitration (plus many lawyer fees). Most companies do not get into this unless they are destined to win the case.

I do not like to be the messenger of bad news, I just wanted to give my professional opinion.

Take care,
Ric

It would seem that this topic is dead, yes?

I did not want to scare people away.

There has been a new devlopment in one of the domain names related to the Madrid 2012 games and I thought you should all see it.

The article is at http://elmundo.es/navegante/2003/10/13/esociedad/1066046175.html

This computer company here lost the madrid2012.org domain name and it is because of my reason #1 above that I gave for madrid2012.com.

Take care,
Ric

ric_legal: I can't really talk about the details of the case just yet. I'll update the thread when I have the ruling in the coming days/weeks.

Saludos, MadridMan

The ruling reached me this morning:

MADRID2012.com, 2M12.com, 2M12.org, & 2M12.info will be transferred to Madrid 2012, S.A.. They won and I lost.

I based much of my argument, incorrectly as it turned out, that Madrid 2012, S.A. did not yet exist until AFTER I registered MADRID2012.com AND they didn't apply for the trademark for "MADRID 2012" until AFTER I registered my dot com of the same name.

Turns out that the company Madrid Nuevo Siglo WAS RENAMED to Madrid 2012, S.A.. It was my (apparent incorrect) understanding that Madrid 2012, S.A. was a "spin-off" or "daughter company" of Madrid Nuevo Siglo but it just RENAMED itself. The originally named company existed in early 2000. So really, that's where it begins and ends and that's where my case was lost.

Regarding the other 2M12.xxx domain names, my argument stood on the fact that Madrid 2012, S.A. ONLY owned GRAPHICAL trademarks and not textual trademarks of the same term. I had seen this argument successfully upheld in other cases but apparently it didn't matter as one represented the other.

I was absolutely confident that I was going to RETAIN these domain names because I did my research and had submitted a first-class, thorough Response. I was certain. That makes the loss all the more disappointing. And that's where this discussion ends. TOPIC CLOSED. Time to put these last 3.5 stressful months behind me.

Disappointed, sad, & feeling abused, MadridMan