Ananova:

Sting has lost a "cybersquatting" case over the website address www.sting.com because it isn't his real name.

A UN arbitrator has ruled that US computer game player Michael Urvan can continue using the website address which he says he has owned for eight years.

The ruling is in contrast to previous decisions that went in favour of celebrities such as Julia Roberts, said Samar Shamoon, spokeswoman for the UN's World Intellectual Property Organisation.

The arbitrator, Andrew Christie of Australia, acknowledged that Sting is a "world famous entertainer" known by that name.

But Christie says a key difference with cases in which performers have rights to their given names is that Sting isn't the real name of singer Gordon Sumner.

The WIPO procedure is designed to stop cybersquatting, which it defines as people registering web addresses with the intention of making a large profit by selling the site to the corporation or person with established rights to the name.

Anyone can register a website address for about £70. The arbitrator said Sting failed to prove that Urvan registered the site for the purpose of selling it.