A property developer is preparing to take on Playboy in a battle over a disputed London domain name.
Michael Ross, a director of Surrey based CNM Estates, registered the address www.playboy.london when the Dot London Domain was launched last year.
But his right to use the domain is being challenged by the American publishing giant which claims the use of the name breaches its trademark.
A deadline was issued for Mr Ross to transfer the domain to Playboy Enterprises, but this has now passed and the developer is pledging to fight to keep his Dot London address.
Speaking to the Evening Standard about the dispute, Ross explained that his case would rest on the argument that he is “a London-based playboy with every right to use the domain.”
“It is a bloody arrogant approach to make. They say that I am ‘diluting the value of the brand’. That is personally insulting – I am improving it.”
Mr Ross continued to say that ‘playboy’ is simply a word in a dictionary, and if it was protected he wouldn’t have been allowed to register it in the first place.
“I am not going to go off and pretend I am Hugh Hefner or own the Playboy Club,” he added.
“My wife is pregnant and I am hoping for a boy. If he is anything like I was in 18 years’ time, I am keeping the domain for him so he can be London’s newest playboy.”
Playboy Enterprises will not comment on specific cases, but insists it will actively enforce protection of its brand.
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