The cyber squat

A New York-based podcaster, using the name of The Simpsons Movie to attract fans, has lost the right to operate his website.

According to The Globe and Mail, the United Nations' parent agency, WIPO, ruled that the squatter must cede control of the thesimpsonsmovie.com to Twentieth Century Fox.

The arbitrator for WIPO said the podcaster's purchase of the website amounted to "bad faith registration and use" of the address, also known as "cybersquatting."

Since 1999, WIPO implemented a dispute-settlement system dealing with the practice of cybersquatting. Over the past eight years, the UN agency has handled 10,500 cases, many involving famous brands such as oil firms and hotel chains, film stars and actors, writers and international sports clubs.