Madonna fights for her name

　　Madonna and nudity do not always go hand in hand. Such is the case between the club queen and Internet pornography vendor and cybersquatter Dan Parisi.

　　According to Rolling Stone, Madonna is trying to wrest the Internet URL madonna.com from the porn impresario. Madonna has filed accusations that Parisi is " holding the domain name hostage." Her complaints are being heard by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a division of the United Nations.

　　Parisi contends that the term "Madonna" is an oft-used word in the English language and should continue to exist within the public domain. The capitalist paid $20,000 for the rights to the name and had been using it to house pornography until his recent tiff with the middle-aged Material Girl. He has since changed the site's direction, choosing to post the banter(开玩笑) between his lawyers and Madonna's lawyers.

　　"We have never offered to sell this domain to Madonna Louise Ciccone, and have rebuffed(回绝) all offers from her to purchase the domain name madonna.com," Parisi claims.

　　It is not the first time that Parisi has come under fire for his choice of URLs. He drew the ire(愤怒) of President Clinton's lawyers after he used the site whitehouse.com to post material that could teach Monica Lewinsky a thing or two.

　　In November, Clinton signed the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. The regislation prohibits the registration of domain names that use the name of a living person or " a name substantially and confusingly similar thereto, without that person's consent, with the specific intent to profit" by selling the domain name.

　　Madonna can take comfort in the victory by fellow superstar Julia Roberts. Roberts gained control of julia roberts.com after being alerted that registered URL owner Russel Boyd of Princeton, N.J., planned to auction the name off on e-Bay. When Boyd was alerted of Roberts'displeasure, he quickly morphed the area into a fan site.

　　With Erin Brockovich-like resolve, Roberts' lawyers went after the site and the WIPO sided with the actress.

　　"Julia the multimillionaire and her team of lawyers have struck a powerful blow against the common man and his mistaken belief in free speech," Boyd complained on his site.(英语周报 邮发代号：21-101)