Twittyâs heirs want domain name back
By Chris Lewis,
[email protected]
January 13, 2006
Some heirs of the late singing star Conway Twitty have sued the former owner of a fan Web site in Arkansas to gain control of the Conwaytwitty.com domain name.
Conway Twitty United (CTU) contends Royce Inman, owner of Arkansas Trading Co., has refused to convey the Web site name to the rightful owner and tried to auction off the name for $50,000.
CTU is a Hendersonville limited partnership that owns the intellectual property rights to Twittyâs estate and plans to market souvenir merchandise on the Internet, according to its attorney, Paige Waldrop Mills of Bass, Berry & Sims.
The Nashville law firm, which specializes in copyright and trademark law, contends Inman breached a contract and violated trademark laws as well as a new federal anti-cybersquatting statute.
CTU is asking the Davidson County Chancery Court to enjoin Inman from using the Conway Twitty trademark and order him to pay damages, including at least $250,000 in punitive damages.
âWe feel like itâs absolutely crystal clear. Ownership of that domain name should be with Conway Twitty United, and we will get it back eventually,â Mills said.
Inman responded by e-mail that he was now living in Panama and was not aware of the lawsuit.
For years, the Internet was rampant with domain names that were registered by people who then tried to sell them to entities associated with the name. That led Congress in 1999 to pass the federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.
âIf youâre a famous person, somebody canât just register your name as a domain name. Thatâs called cybersquatting,â said Steven Hetcher, professor of law at Vanderbilt University. âFor a time it was unclear, but now itâs clearly illegal.â
Although he isnât involved in the Twitty case, Hetcher said it appears it may not be cut-and-dry because it involves a contract dispute.
Born Harold Jenkins in 1933, Twitty was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999, six years after his death. In 1997, the Conway Twitty Estate, which was set up to execute his will, agreed to let Inman sell some Conway Twitty merchandise on a limited basis, according to court papers.
Eventually, the estate became aware of Inmanâs purchase of the domain name to establish a Web site. Both parties reached an agreement that Inman could use the domain name as long as he transferred it back to the estate upon request, the suit states.
Sometime after 2000, Conway Twitty United, which included one of the singerâs daughters, Joni Jenkins, became successor-in-interest to the estateâs intellectual property rights. As such, the group controls the commercial exploitation of Twittyâs name and likeness, Mills said.
Contacted by CTU last March, Inman removed the Web site, but refused to transfer the domain name to CTU, the suit states. Instead, he offered to license it in exchange for 12 percent of the estateâs gross sales of Conway Twitty merchandise.
CTU claims Inman tried to sell ConwayTwitty.com through an aftermarket Web site controlled by the Internet registrar GoDaddy.com and had an asking price of $50,000, Mills said.
GoDaddy.com removed the Web site when CTU informed the company it was preparing to sue, confirmed GoDaddyâs attorney, Christine Jones.
She said it was so common for people to register domain names of famous people or trademarked entities that an arbitration system has been set up to help settle disputes so that costly lawsuits can be avoided.
While the law clearly gives precedence to owners of the trademark, the domain registration of proper names has been less clear, she said, although recently arbitration panels have been siding with people with famous or household names.
âThey know if you set up a Web site and itâs JuliaRoberts.com, youâre driving traffic to your Web site based on her fame and fortune,â she said.
