The Lance Armstrong Foundation, a Texas-based charity set up by the American cycling champion to raise funds for cancer research, on Tuesday won the right to evict cybersquatters from websites selling LIVESTRONG bracelets.
Two rulings ordering a California-based operator to transfer three disputed domain names were handed down by a panel of arbitrators appointed by the U.N.'s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
CSA Marketing and Chris Angeles registered the domain names, and in late 2004, offering the popular bracelets at commercial profit in "bad faith," the rulings said.
"There is nothing, in short, to persuade the panel that the registration and use of the domain names was anything other than opportunistic and abusive conduct...," the arbitrators said.
The Austin-based Armstrong foundation, set up in 1997 by the cancer survivor and seven-time Tour de France winner, registered the LIVESTRONG trademark in New York state in 2004 and has two pending federal trademark applications, according to the ruling.
The non-profit group has sold more than 50 million LIVESTRONG bracelets to heighten awareness about cancer survivorship and raise money for its charitable programmes.
Under WIPO's low-cost, fast-track procedure, ownership of a domain name is transferred within 10 days unless the loser launches a court case challenging the decision.
Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.
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