Woman loves Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga doubts woman’s good faith. Love conquers Lady Gaga’s doubts.
Sounds like theme of a Lady Gaga hit song, but instead, this is the plot line of a dispute involving the domain name, LadyGaga.org.
In August, the artist formerly known as Stefani Germanotta submitted a complaint to the National Arbitration Forum that alleged that the website ladygaga.org was registered in bad faith and in violation of her trademark.
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The owner of the site then responded that it was merely a non-commercial, unofficial fan site for Gaga that “does not have any sponsored links or links to third-party websites which market and sell merchandise bearing Complainant’s trademark.”
The owner added that her fan site supported Gaga’s fame and was giving the singer free publicity. In other words, the site owner (identified as “Miranda”) loves Lady Gaga so much that she’s willing to erect a digital shrine to her, and lawyers shouldn’t interfere.
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If that’s not fandom, what is?
The owner of LadyGaga.org got her reward on Wednesday when three panelists at the National Arbitration Forum ruled that Lady Gaga had failed to show that respondent lacked legitimate interest in the disputed domain name. So the site can continue.
E-mail: eriqgardner@yahoo.com
Twitter: @eriqgardner
