The Finian Comission and the Drums of Jericho

When I came back from Ireland my father gave me the nickname Finian from the musical Finian's Rainbow. Follow the fellow who follows a dream. He loved the old musicals like the Music Man as well as Darby O'Gill and the Little People. 

Finian was a name that stuck and I used it during the Telus dispute. Everyone on the picket line knew me as Finian. I launched a Finian's Commission over Telus Idol and started the Drums of Jericho. We'd bring drums to the picket line and makes lots of noise outside the towers. 

When I was Googling Finian Commission for a website I posted about the Pickton Farm cover up I found this WIPO Arbitration I had. During the strike a former Telus Employee registered the CEO's name for a domain name. All he did was post political cartoons he made of the CEO. It was actually very funny.

After the dispute he took it down and I asked him if he'd consider keeping it going. He didn't want to and said he'd sell it to me for a buck. I smiled and said deal. After the transfer was complete I sent an email to the CEO's lawyer advising him that I was the new owner of darrenentwistle.com and showed him the receipt. I said not a bad investment for a buck. 

That was the Ninja. He knew who he could con and who he couldn't. After quite a while Darren got fed up and retained an addition lawyer from Calgary to seize the domain from me. That's what the WIPO Arbitration was about. WIPO stands for World Intellectual Property Organization.

So Darren got this rodeo clown from Calgary to sue me for the domain. I can't remember what that lawyer's field was but it wasn't Internet copyright it was something unrelated. So we started making written submissions. I laughed when I saw his submission because it was ridiculous. 

He mentioned this and that. None of which had any relevance to anything. He had one legal argument. He had to establish that I had retained the domain for malicious purposes. That was the only argument he had and he didn't even mention it. So I laughed out loud and slagged him. 

I didn't respond to that argument in my written submission because he hadn't raised it and I certainly wasn't going to make his case for him. They had sent one of their responses to an old PO box I had in Blaine and I objected because I no longer used that address for service. So anyways, the tribunal made their decision and I lost. I was like WTF? They didn't even raise the only argument they had. 

Six months later I stop by my old PO box and find an additional submission they made without notifying me. They didn't send it to my address for service they sent it to an old address I said I no longer used. When I opened it up it was the size of a telephone book. I knew the rodeo clown in Calgary didn't make that. It had to have been their Ninja in Vancouver. 

So just to set the record straight, I didn't lose to the rodeo clown, I lost to the Ninja but they cheated. They finally made their proper submission but didn't serve me so I was never allowed to respond to it. All's fair in love and war. 

As soon as I lost that domain I registered another one at mydarrenetwistle.com and put everything on that instead. By then they finally realized I was a lost cause. Peace. 

The WIPO decision is entitled Darren Entwistle, Telus Corporation v. Finian Commission (Moi). The Complainants are Darren Entwistle and Telus Corporation, both of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, represented by Stikeman Elliott LLP, Canada. The Respondent is Finian Commission of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, internally represented. I'd rather lose a fight then miss the war. Word. You made your bed. I'm in mine.