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Celebrity chef's cybersquatters evicted

22 May 2008

Raymond Blanc has won a ten-week legal battle against Caribbean cybersquatters.

The group, Caribbean Online International Limited, registered domain name raymondblanc.com and used it to link to advertisements that weren't connected with the restaurateur.

A lawsuit was filed with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) by the French television chef's lawyers.

The WIPO ruled in favour of Mr Blanc this week and has prevented the firm from using his name to make commercial gains.

Mr Blanc said: "I am relieved that this issue is now resolved.

"I have worked very hard to build my reputation over the years. These cybersquatters had nothing to do with me and no permission to use my name."

The court said Caribbean Online has registered around 293,000 other domain names.

Rebecca Samuel, associate in the Technology & IP team comments: "This shows how important the protection of IP rights are to businesses and how the opportunistic registration by third parties of a name can severely inhibit the reputation of a business or individual.

"Laws relating to cybersquatters are less than clear in the UK, so this is an interesting precedent which may be followed in future cases."

Actors Morgan Freeman and Julia Roberts and Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton have also been victims of cybersquatters.

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