News of November 2, 2000
Tupac.com Remains Fan Site: Estate Loses Dispute Over Internet Addresses
In the fall of 2000, Tupac's estate lost the dispute over Tupac.com and Tupac.net. A WIPO arbitration left the addresses with the fan site operator.
The internet addresses Tupac.com and Tupac.net remain in the hands of a fan. As AllHipHop reported on November 2, 2000, an arbitration proceeding by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) rejected the demand of Tupac’s estate. Both addresses had been registered in 1998 and served as fan sites. Their owner, R. J. Barranco, was allowed to keep them.
Two Months of Dispute
The estate had initially sent a cease-and-desist letter. Because Barranco did not want to surrender the addresses, formal proceedings followed, which lasted about two months. According to the report, Richard D. Faulkner from Texas decided it.
His reasoning: following the estate’s view, virtually no fan club could operate a site whose address contains the name of an artist. In addition, the complainants could then unlawfully profit from the fans’ work without compensating them for it.
Shortly before, WIPO had ruled differently in another well-known case: a man had to surrender the address Madonna.com to the singer.