Namely, Celine Dion

By Stephen M. Silverman

Tuesday May 12, 1998 12:00 AM EDT

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Celine Dion has a real handle on herself. In the latest of celebrity lawsuits over Internet domain names, the Canadian pop diva and new mom, 32, has been awarded the rights to her own Internet domain name thanks to a United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization ruling in Geneva, Switzerland. Dion and her record company, Sony Music Entertainment, had brought the case against Jeff Burgar of High Prairie, Alberta, Canada, who had registered the name. The U.N. tribunal last week ruled that Burgar had no legitimate right to the name and ordered it transferred to Dion. Arbitrator William R. Cornish noted that Burgar had a history of registering the names of celebrities. The same day Dion's victory was announced, so was another Cornish ruling that returned the rights of comedian Julie Brown's domain name to Brown. Burgar had also registered her name, said the Associated Press. In an earlier ruling, Bruce Springsteen got his domain name back, too. Up until then, it had been registered to Burgar.