Fat Albert Domain Name Transferred to Bill Cosby

It’s official. Fat Albert does belong to Bill Cosby.

In a decision under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, a one person panel found that the domain name fatalbert.org properly belongs to the comedian, not Sterling Davenport of Loretto TN. Cosby created the Fat Albert character in 1992 as part of his television series. The motion picture “Fat Albert,” based on the “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids” television series was released in December 2004.

Cosby brought the complaint after Davenport registered the domain name fatalbert.org in June 2004 after the fact that the movie was being made was released. Deavenport failed to respond to two separate cease and desist letters. At times, the fatalbert.org site offered drugs for sale, including penis and breast enlargement pills. Davenport failed to respond to the complaint.

In his report, the arbitrator found that the domain name was identical to a trademark owned by Cosby. The arbitrator found that Davenport “has deliberately and confusingly used the Complainant’s mark as to dominate part of the domain name in order to attract internet users to the disputed domain name.” The arbitrator found “bad faith” from the failure of Davenport to respond. He also found that Davenport’s “act of associating the Complainant’s mark with a sexually explicit web-site, especially where the Complainant’s mark has been associated with children’s entertainment services, tarnishes and damages the Complainant’s Fat Albert mark and reputation.

William H. Cosby Jr. v. Sterling Davenport, WIPO Case No. D2005-0756, dated August 30, 2005.