I just found this interesting blog post on ESPN article about the a legal case between Chris Bosh and a domain name squatter company known as "Hoopology.com" (which now redirects to a press release about the case on the website of Bosh's lawyers). Basically, Bosh wanted the rights to "chrisbosh.com," but the domain was registered by the owners of Hooplogy. Bosh won the case, but along with his own domain name, he was also granted ownership of about 800 other domain names that represented celebrity names of athletes and entertainers.

The New York Times' Howard beck also covered the story. He writes:

A federal judge in California has ordered a cybersquatter to surrender chrisbosh .com to Bosh, the Toronto Raptors forward, settling a lawsuit filed last year. But the court went a step further — or several hundred steps. Judge Florence-Marie Cooper of United States District Court ordered Luis Zavala and his company, Hoopology.com, to release some 800 illegally registered domain names to Bosh.

Bosh and "Max Deal" released a pdf of every squatted domain, with instructions on how to claim domains registered on behalf of the trademark owners:

Chris Bosh and Max Deal offer the return of the domain name free of charge as a courtesy to the celebrity named herein, provided that such person promptly requests the return of such domain name in writing from Max Deal.

Domain name squatting in the United States is forbidden by the provision of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), 15 USC §1125. Martin Samson has written a good summary of this law, which is posted here. He writes:

If your mark is "famous," you can prevail not only if the domain name at issue is identical or confusingly similar to your mark, but also if it is "dilutive." "Generic" terms are never protected as marks — think here of the term "baseball" as a mark for the sale of baseballs. The final element you need to establish is the most difficult to demonstrate, namely the motivation for defendant's conduct.

On behalf of celebrity athletes everywhere, I offer my thanks, Chris Bosh.