Chris Bosh Awarded Control Over Domain Names
In a development illustrative of the importance of the Internet and social media to professional athletes and celebrities desiring to control their online image, a novel decision of a United States federal court in California awarded Toronto Raptors forward Chris Bosh control of the domain name chrisbosh.com as well as nearly 800 Internet domain names utilizing the names of college and professional athletes and celebrities including Canada's Steve Nash as well as several current and former Toronto Raptors. A complete list of the domain names is available at: http://www.winston.com/siteFiles/Domain_Name_List.pdf.
The award of the domain names follows an earlier award of $120,000 in damages under the U.S. Federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act for the infringing, unauthorized usage of chrisbosh.com for the benefit of the former owner of the domain (Luis Zavala and his company Hoopology.com) and a request by Bosh's counsel to seek control over the list of domain names which were wrongfully controlled by the defendants.
A company controlled by Bosh, MaxDeal Technologies, has offered to provide the domain names free of charge to their rightful owner following submission of a written request to Hadi@MaxDealTechnologies.com.
