Playboy Enterprises International, Inc. has filed a complaint against the owner of the Centerfolds.com domain name to the World Intellectual Property Organization. At first, the word “centerfold” meant a gatefold spread in a magazine, but thanks to Playboy it now refers to pin-up or nude portraits and the models featured in them. Playboy has registered several trademarks with this word; the first one was registered in 1996, while the domain name a year earlier.
However, the World Intellectual Property Organization panelist Warwick Rothnie determined that the current registrant of the domain, E-Magine, didn’t have any legitimate interests or rights to the domain name. He also pointed out that Playboy had already established some level of common law rights for the word “centerfold” many years before the trademarks were registered. According to Domain Name Wire, the panelist may have also taken into account that E-Magine was probably not the original owner and bought the rights for the domain name later. The panelist decided that Centerfolds.com must be transferred to Playboy Enterprises International, Inc. within 10 days if E-Magine does not file a complaint in court.
