Canadian graphic designer Anand Ramnath Mani rejected an offer of $750 and a free Armani suit in his bid to keep the Internet domain name www.armani.com to promote his business.
And after a 6-year, David-and-Goliath battle with Italian fashion giant Giorgio Armani that cost him $6,500, an international arbitrator ruled that A.R. Mani had the right to keep the domain name, which he uses to route e-mail but not as a Web site.
"I am pleased. I come from a position of good manners and fair play. I would have preferred that this thing would have been resolved in a far more friendly manner. But it will snow in the Amazon jungle before that happens," Mr. Mani said.
The Switzerland-based World Intellectual Property Organization ruled recently that Armani cannot stop Mr. Mani, of Vancouver, from using the domain name because it combines his first two initials and last name, and because he had used the domain name for years without any intention to hurt Armani.
Switzerland's G.A. Modefine SA, which owns the trademarks Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani and initiated the complaint earlier this year, could not be reached for comment.
WIPO set up a panel in 1999 to allow those who think they have the right to a domain to get it back without having to fight a costly legal battle. In the Mani ruling, it bucked tradition to find in favor of the defendant.