The issue of the web domain ModernWarfare3.com, originally spotted thanks to a (presumably unofficial) Battlefield 3 promotion and later outed by DNS service GoDaddy, has been settled, and you guessed it, Activision and its lawyers have prevailed. The National Arbitration Forum has decided unanimously in favor of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 publisher, saying that the three criteria necessary for a domain name transfer (that the name is confusing, the holder has no real interest in the domain name, and the name is "being used in bad faith") have all been met. The three-member panel has ordered that the domain name be transferred back to Activision.

Currently, the domain name appears to be offline, but presumably as soon as Activision can get it up and running, it'll redirect right into the official Modern Warfare 3 site.

Too bad for Battlefield 3 fan and Florida resident Anthony Abraham, who tried to argue both fair use, and that the term "modern warfare" was generic enough to have a life outside of the video game world. Hopefully he's still got ElderScrolls5.com sitting in his back pocket, just waiting for a competitor to promote.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/07/activision-wins-ruling-regains-control-of-modernwarfare3-com/#comments

Posted: Sep 08, 2011 12:18 am