The panel of three arbitrators for the World Intellectual Property Organization ordered the transfer of lockheedmartin.org from Ning Ye of Washington, D.C., to the Bethesda, Md.-based company. The panel ruled that Ye had no legitimate right to the lockheedmartin.org domain and was using it in bad faith. Lockheed, which has headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, said that the use of the corporation's name to spread anti-government messages could damage its commercial relationship with Chinese authorities. The company also complained that Ye was posting sexually explicit content on the site. Ye told the panel that he had asked Lockheed to contribute the sum to charity.
Some names are worth millions of dollars.
The U.N. arbitration system, which started in 1999, allows those who think they have the right to a domain to get it back without having to fight a costly legal battle or paying large sums of money.