The wildlife fund, known by the panda that is its logo and most famous protégé, was founded 30 years ago. It sued the wrestling federation, founded some 20 years ago, over use of the initials WWF. On Friday, it won by a judge's decision in a London courtroom. The wrestling federation said it plans to appeal the ruling.

Although the conservation group changed its name to the Worldwide Fund for Nature 15 years ago, in the United States it is still known by the original World Wildlife Fund. In 1994, it entered into an agreement with the wrestling federation over the use of the trademark initials. Since then, however, both have expanded their presence on the Internet, where they have almost identical web site addresses.

As a result of the court ruling, however, the wrestling enterprise will be allowed to retain limited use of its initials in the United States only. It will be required to relinquish its prized web site address.

With the countdown now on to an October hearing to determine the amount of costs and damages to be awarded, the wrestling federation said in a statement, ''it is our intent to appeal the judge's decision.''

''We do not believe there is confusion in the public's mind between the World Wrestling Federation and the World Wildlife Fund,'' it stated.

The wrestling site, www.wwf.com, invited visitors Friday to ''win a trip to Armageddon.'' The wildlife site, www.wwf.org, told visitors, "Together, we can leave our children a living planet.''

The conservation group adorned its home page with pictures of a rhinoceros, giant panda, tiger, and a pair of African elephants, all apparently in repose. The wrestling home page was emblazoned with images of such characters as The Rock and Undertaker in the advanced stages of some form of rutting.

Headlines on the wildlife fund's U.S. page included ''WWF Members tell Congress: Save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.'' The wrestling federation's headlines included ''Emotions Explode on the Road to SummerSlam.''

The wildlife site offered shoppers a plush ''special edition Giant Panda that you can make yourself.'' One dollar from the sale of each ornament would go toward efforts to protect pandas.

The wrestling site offered shoppers a line of greeting cards, announcing: ''You've seen all those other greeting card sites, with the pretty little messages and awe-inspiring thoughts. Well (expletive) that. It's time to send your friends some World Wrestling Federation Attitude.'' The company prides itself on providing family entertainment and some of its stars read to children in libraries, so the text substituted symbols for an actual expletive.

The Switzerland-based wildlife fund argued in court that the similarity in web site address was confusing and meant the charity's donors could not make contributions with confidence that their money would end up in the right place. The organization claimed some 4.7 million supporters in more than 100 countries.

The U.S.-based wrestling federation struck back, saying the conservationists had acted to put the entertainment enterprise in a commercial arm lock. The company reported revenues of 456 million dollars in the year that ended on Apr. 30 and said 2.5 million people attended its live events. It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, where its stock symbol is, to the chagrin of its namesake, WWF.

The judge hearing the case appeared to agree that the suit represented a setback for the wrestlers' business but ruled that the wildlife fund's fears were reasonable and that the conservationists were within their rights.

''We are pleased that the judge agreed with our position that the World Wildlife Fund has acted to restrain our rights to trade,'' the wrestling enterprise said in its statement. ''However, we are disappointed that the judge accepted the Fund's justifications for these restraints without affording us a full trial and the right to question the Fund on its need for these restrictions.''

Jerry McDevitt, an attorney for the company, was quoted in news reports from London as saying that if the judge's ruling stands, ''all these millions and millions of fans - if the environmental group had its way - would type in wwf.com, and instead of seeing everything they've seen for years ... are going to be directed to their site and learn about panda bears and whatever they're doing to save the world.''

Copyright 2001 IPS

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