Chicago Bid For The 2016 Summer Olympics - Domain Name Dispute

Domain Name Dispute

Trademark controversies arose for "Chicago2016.com" and "Tokyo2016.com", when both were registered in 2004 by entrepreneur Stephen Frayne, Jr., an MBA student at the Kellogg School of Management; he also claimed around 40 other domain names whose city/year format mimicked the way Olympic Games are marketed. Frayne's stated intent for the site was a "comprehensive, balanced discussion" of the benefits and pitfalls of holding the Olympics in Chicago; the Chicago 2016 committee contended that his real intent was to profit from cybersquatting. The Chicago Olympic bid organization, which had been using Chicago2016.org as its official web site, sought control of Chicago2016.com through a complaint filed with an international arbitration organization. Attempts by the USOC to have the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) release the names have failed. Frayne sued in the U.S. District Court in Chicago, seeking an injunction against the arbitration proceedings. On September 25, 2008, the WIPO arbitration panel granted Frayne's motion to suspend and terminate proceedings setting up a battle in the federal court in the Northern District of Illinois.

The Olympic bid candidature documentation published by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) states that each bid must "...provide documentation indicating that appropriate measures have been taken to register domain names that are of value to your candidature such as ' 2016' followed by extensions .com .net .org as well as the country code concerned."