In The News

"Dr No" - No Trademark for James Bond

An eight-year legal battle over trademark rights to both Dr No and Dr NO came to end on June 30 with the ruling of the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg that the instantly recognizable name is not trademark protected. The German media group, Mission Productions, is now free to register the trademark in the European Union.

Danjaq, the U.S. media firm that manages IP rights in the Bond movies, claimed a risk of confusion because of the association of Dr No with James Bond, Agent 007. However, the Court decided that the use of Dr No in films, on DVDs and video cassettes was artistic, not commercial. The evidence showed that signs such as James Bond or 007 were instead used as commercial identifiers on DVD and video cassette covers. "In those circumstances," said the Court, "the signs Dr No and Dr NO cannot be regarded as well known trademarks or non-registered trademarks that could be relied on in order to oppose the registration of a Community trademark."

When Danjaq's first attempt to block the registrations was rejected in 2001, the media firm immediately started to register EU trademarks for all the Bond film titles. Of the 22 films in the series - Dr No, the first, was released in 1962 - 18 have been registered. Registration of Casino Royale, Octopussy and Golden Eye has been challenged.

Paperless pleading proposed for UDRP

WIPO's Arbitration and Mediation Center, the leading service provider for domain name disputes filed by trademark owners under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) has submitted a proposal to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to move the UDRP to a system of electronic, paperless pleadings. Through targeted amendments to the UDRP Rules, WIPO's "eUDRP proposal" offers a practical and fair solution particularly fitting for a dispute resolution process concerning online identifiers.

In order to avoid any potential prejudice to domain name registrants (the respondent in a case), a "safety-valve" in the proposal will ensure that respondents receive effective notice of the existence of a dispute. This notice will continue to be sent to respondents by post, fax and e-mail. However, the pleadings themselves will be sent by e-mail only. WIPO's research indicates that its...