Someone, presumably the Elvis Presley Estate just filed a UDRP on the domain name Graceland.com
The domain name Graceland.com has an original registration date of December 23rd 1994.
The domain is owned by a Simon Higgs of Burbank California who has seemed to have owned the domain name continuously since at least the earliest Domaintools.com entry which is from 2004.
The domain names is not parked but instead seems to be a religious site and seems to have the same look to it as far back as Screenshots.com goes which is 2005.
The site’s header also seems the same as it was back in 2005:
“”Welcome To The Home Of The King Of Kings!
“”Welcome to the home of the King of Kings (Revelation:19:16).”
Talk about Latches it should be an interesting case.
Graceland of course is the former home of the King of Rock n Roll Elvis Presley and is one of the iconic tourist attractions in the United States getting reportedly some 600,000 visitors a year.
The Complainant is not listed so far so, the Elvis Presley Estate is just a guess on my part.
The UDRP was filed with the National Arbitration Forum and we will be keeping on eye on this one.
One wonders how they did not go after this in the late 90’s ? Lisa Marie turned 25 in 1993 and she was the sole owner at that time.
From Elvis.com
Graceland welcomes over 600,000 visitors each year, is one of the five most visited home tours in the United States, and is the most famous home in America after The White House. In 1991, Graceland was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The peak season for visitorship is Memorial Day through Labor Day. Attendance ranges from a few hundred visitors on a weekday in the dead of winter to 2,000 – 3,500 visitors per day in the spring and early summer, to over 4,000 per day in July at the height of the travel season. The total economic impact on the city of Memphis from Graceland visitors is estimated to be $150 million per year or possibly much more. A major part of that impact is that most Graceland visitors come from outside the city, bringing new dollars into the community, not only touring Graceland, but also patronizing other attractions in the area as well as area hotels, restaurants, shops and other businesses while they are in town. Further benefiting the city is the intense worldwide publicity that Graceland and the Elvis Presley phenomenon continually bring to Memphis. Contributing to the local impact is the fact that EPE employs approximately 350 people part-time and full-time year ’round, a number that swells to as many as 450 in the busy summer season.
Graceland visitors come from all walks of life, all ages, all musical tastes, all income levels, all educational backgrounds, and all parts of the world. The demographics are broad. Over half of Graceland’s visitors are under the age of 35. Graceland is a must-see for visiting dignitaries, touring Broadway show casts, touring rock stars, and people of virtually every description coming to Memphis.
Global statement of registration in whois for 20 years and Graceland did not protest it in all that time? I wonder if owner would use the statute of limitations in federal court for its protection.
It’s possible it could have been filed by Graceland University — they tried with another name before.
http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/search/case.jsp?case_id=11020