Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation has won a battle over rights to the domain name of The Simpsons Movie, after a cybersquatter used the website for sexually explicit material.

The film giant filed a complaint to the World Intellectual Property Organization (wipo) over the use of the film's name in the internet address of a site registered by Keith Malley of New York. He had posted graphic images of the yellow cartoon family in sexual positions on it.

Earlier this week however, Wipo ruled ownership must be handed back to Twentieth Century Fox, which owns the rights to both the new film and TV series.

Malley was deemed to have "no rights or legitimate interests with respect to the domain name" and was ordered to return it immediately.

Wipo added Malley's "aim in registering the disputed domain name was to profit from and exploit" Twentieth Century Fox's trademark to promote its own interests.