The story headlined ``Backstreet Boys' goods-maker loses Internet case'' is wrong and is withdrawn. Thursday's ruling by the World Intellectual Property Organization in fact involved a case which was won by the company concerned. A corrected story follows...

GENEVA (Reuters) - A firm which makes Backstreet Boys' merchandise won a ``cybersquatting'' case against Web sites with similar but misspelled versions of the U.S. teen-pop band's name, arbitrators said in a decision published Thursday.

Backstreet Productions Inc proved it had rights to the Backstreet Boys trademark in its complaint against John Zuccarini of Pennsylvania who had registered such sites as backstreeboys.com, backsreetboys.com and backstreetboyz.com.

The California-based company sells compact discs, videos, clothes and jewelry featuring the U.S. group.

The panel of three independent arbitrators from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ruled that the company did have rights to the trademark whereas Zuccarini did not, and that Zuccarini had registered and used the domain names in bad faith.

Reuters erroneously reported Thursday that WIPO had ruled Thursday against another company, Backstreet Boys Productions Inc. The error resulted from a misunderstanding of a press release relating to a similar previous case.

In November 2000, Backstreet Boys Productions Inc filed a similar case but lost because it failed to prove it had trademark rights.

The U.S. group, whose hits include ``I want it that way'' and ''Larger than Life,'' is just one of a string of celebrity names to be linked to so-called cybersquatting cases at the United Nations agency which promotes protection of trademarks and patents.

Cybersquatting -- the registration of famous names in the hope of selling them back at a profit -- is seen as the hottest online issue among celebrities.

Top actresses Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman, tennis sisters Serena and Venus Williams and pop singers Madonna and Celine Dion, have all won cases at WIPO.

Singers Bruce Springsteen and Sting have lost similar contests.