A Scottish family have been served with a cease and desist order by the World Intellectual Property Organisation – after buying a Narnia domain name.
A Scottish family have been served with a cease and desist order by the World Intellectual Property Organisation – after buying a Narnia domain name.
The Savile- Smith family, who live in Edinburgh bought the domain name Narnia.mobi for £70 ($A145) in 2006 so that their son, a
Narnia fan, could have a
Narnia email address. The Domain was intended as a present for the ten year old’s birthday.
They were asked to return the domain name to the CS Lewis company, the owners of the author’s estate, but they refused. The family then received a 128-page legal complaint filed with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in Switzerland.
According to news reported by Reuters, the couple had been saving the domain as a surprise gift. “We’d been saving it as a surprise for our little boy’s birthday to coincide with the release of the Narnia film, (Prince Caspian) ” said Mrs Saville-Smith.
“Our whole family are great admirers of CS Lewis and he must be turning in his grave about all this,” added Mrs Saville-Smith, who is an award-winning Scottish poet.
“To try to ruthlessly snatch away a gift intended for a young boy who loves his Narnia books is unbelievable.”
The family have until June 23 to reply to the WIPO’s complaint.
The family deny any intention of trying to profit from the domain name.
“We’ve never made any money out of this domain and have no interest in doing so,” Mr Saville-Smith, told Reuters.
“Even after WIPO makes its decision that’s not the end of it, because either party can appeal that verdict.”
The battle for
Narnia continues…
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