Cyber-Squatters Grab Portfolio Managers' Domain Names

After a friendly conversation, Janus of Denver has returned the rights to the web address - TomMarsico.com - to Marsico Capital Management, also of Denver, according to an industry website. Janus registered the address well before its famous portfolio manager left the firm to start his own firm, FundAlarm.com reported in its "Highlights and Commentary" section this month.

However, a number of individuals and domain name registration companies have obtained the rights to other famous names, including PeterLynch.com, MarioGabelli.com, DickStrong.com, AlbertoVilar.com, RonBaron.com and MichaelPrice.com, FundAlarm.com said.

Fidelity Investments, for which Lynch is vice chairman, declined to comment on the ownership of the PeterLynch.com Internet address. Mario Gabelli, through a spokesperson for his company, Gabelli Asset Management of Rye, N.Y., also declined to comment. A spokesperson for Amerindo Investment Advisors of New York, of which Vilar is president and founder, also declined to comment on the AlbertoVilar.com web address.

Some companies have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the return of domain names. However, some courts have recently returned those names to people and businesses they deemed to be their rightful owners, ruling that opportunistic cyber-squatters had registered the domain names in bad faith.

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Money Management Executive
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