Saikrishna Rajgopal wins domain name for Barkha Dutt

Barkha Dutt (pictured), a Padma Shri awardee, is the Group Editor of News Network, NDTV who shot to fame when she covered the Kargil war live from Kashmir and Pakistan occupied Kashmir. www.barkhadutt.com, till recently held by cyber squatters has been released by Delhi based IP boutique, Saikrishna & Associates. Saikrishna Rajgopal, the name partner of Saikrishna & Associates along with associate Safia Said, argued before the arbitral tribunal presided by Harini Narayanaswamy.

www.barkhadutt.com, till recently held by cyber squatters has been released by Delhi based IP boutique, Saikrishna & Associates. Speaking to Bar & Bench, Saikrishna said, "The judgment assumes importance because the arbitral tribunal has recognized trademark rights and common law rights". Although Barkha Dutt did not enjoy trademarks rights on her name the trademark rights have been granted to her as a common law right."

India has a restricted number of precedents where celebrities reclaimed their domain name through the legal process unlike the west where celebrities such as Julia Roberts, Madonna and Mick Jagger fought before arbitral tribunals to secure their domain names. However, there are instances of some of the celebrities having failed to secure their domains names. In the case of Bruce Springsteen, arbitrators found that the registrant, who used www.brucespringsteen.com to redirect users to another site owned by the registrant (celebrity1000.com), had made legitimate, non-commercial fair use of the domain name and had not acted in bad faith.

Saikrishna Rajgopal, the name partner of Saikrishna & Associates along with associate Safia Said, argued before the arbitral tribunal presided by Harini Narayanaswamy.

Barkha Dutt (pictured), a Padma Shri awardee, is the Group Editor of News Network, NDTV who shot to fame when she covered the Kargil war live from Kashmir and Pakistan occupied Kashmir. It is rumored that Priety Zinta's role in the movie Lakshya, as a TV journalist Romila Dutta was modeled on Barkha Dutt.