Sometimes you have to question the intelligence of estate representatives and attorneys, or in this case barristers.  A British family bought the domain name, Narnia.mobi, for their sons 11th birthday present.  Now C. S. Lewis’ estate is suing.  What a way to destroy the reputation of an author and the image of beloved books.

Richard Saville-Smith bought the domain name Narnia.mobi after the 30 day “sunrise period” when trade mark holders are given the exclusive right to purchase domains related to their products.  The C. S. Lewis estate passed on Narnia.mobi and so Mr. Saville-Smith bought it for £70 as an 11th birthday present for his son Comrie.

At the same time, Saville-Smith bought TheQueen.mobi for his wife and his wife bought USpresident.mobi for him all in the spirit of fun.  Narnia.mobi was bought for their son who “loves his Narnia books”.  Unfortunately, the C.S. Lewis estate sees sinister actions in the purchase of Narnia.mobi.

A 128-page legal tome arrived from the estate’s New York law firm Baker & McKenzie accusing the Saville-Smith’s of purchasing the domain for money making purposes in other words, cyber-squatting.  Although the Saville-Smiths have repeatedly denied this, Baker & McKenzie have threatened the family with legal action in Geneva at the World Internet Property Organization (WIPO), the UN organization that arbitrates web law.

It looks as if the family may be getting a trip to Geneva sometime in the future, as WIPO has frozen the domain awaiting a hearing on the case.  That means that Comrie has no access to his birthday present as the second movie produced in the Narnia series Prince Caspian has its premiere this week in the UK.

The family has refused to back down.  This was their son’s birth day present that they bought legally.  As Mr. Saville-Smith has stated, "It’s classic David versus Goliath stuff . We have no intention of making money out of it, it’s just for fun. To try to ruthlessly snatch away a gift intended for a young boy who loves his Narnia books is unbelievable."

Of all the ways that the estate and the law firm could have chosen to handle this, this is clearly the worst.  Acting out of proprietary paranoia, and convinced that anyone who would purchase a domain name that the estate had elected to forgo, they have treated this family as opportunistic thugs rather than deal with the situation rationally.

What a way to destroy a child’s love of stories that children have loved for generations.  Rather than treat the family as Aslan would the estate and attorneys have reacted like the White Witch.  I guess they never actually read the books.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 at 10:59 am under Legal.

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