Local comedian wins rights to Internet domain name

Stand-up comedian Zhou Libo has won the ownership of an Internet domain after his name in a case ruled by Shanghai No.2 Intermediate People's Court this morning.

The 45-year-old comedian and a former judge on the popular TV show "China's Got Talent" was sued in a domain name case in March, in which Zhou defended himself as the legal owner of "zhoulibo.com."

The plaintiff, Yue Tongyu, a Beijing native, filed the lawsuit after Zhou asked the Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center to transfer the domain name to him free of charge last December.

Yue said she registered the domain name of "zhoulibo.com" in 2007 and launched a website in 2010 because she was a literature fan of a deceased Chinese writer, Zhou Libo, who had the same name as the comedian.

But Zhou, who is from Shanghai, told the court that Yue maliciously registered the domain after his name and had put it up for sale for 100,000 yuan (US$15,881).

The court rejected Yue's argument and ruled Zhou was the rightful owner of the domain name.