WalMart Goes After PeopleofWalMart.com Typo
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
Walmart files for domain arbitration, but not against the actual web site.
Remember how a couple weeks ago I wondered how long it would be before Walmart would file a domain arbitration case against PeopleofWalmart.com?
Well, there was an interesting twist today. Walmart filed a case, not against the actual PeopleofWalmart.com site, but against a typo of it: PeapleofWalmart.com (notice the a instead of o).
It should be a slam dunk case for Walmart, given that the registrant can’t show any legitimate use. He also registered WalMart-Winners.com, and both are parked.
Of course, if Walmart went for the actual PeopleofWalmart.com through the UDRP process, it should lose the case.
As another interesting aside about the web-meme-of-the-moment, when I visited PeopleofWalmart.com today, all of the ads were for Walmart.
Related posts:
Tags: domain arbitration, udrp
Crap like this begs for the industry to get tougher on idiots or ignorance. Perhaps we can convince registrars to create a collective code of domain investing which every registrant must review and sign. Within it there could be an educational piece about what cybersquatting is and how it gives a black eye to legitimate investors.
Or perhaps regsitrars could hire people to review every submission and inform registrants if their domains are in violation of cybersquatting laws. How much of a pita would that be? Is anybody doing it?
Something interesting I just noticed. They opened a store, but instead of adding a subdomain to PeopleofWalmart.com, they created a different domain name without the Walmart brand in it.
http://store.peopleofwm.com/
WalMart Goes After PeopleofWalMart.com Typo – http://tinyurl.com/ygddgds
So Walmart goes for a typo of a site which does not belong to them, therefore after they win, Walmart will become typosquatter of peopleofwalmart.com
Unasi – never thought of that. Good one.
walmart can shut down people of walmart anytime they want for unnauthorized used of their prety obvious trademark.
They can squash them like a bug if they wanted to. WalMart has an army of lawyers working for them. I hope they dont but I suspect days are numbered for people of walmart.
Ben,
You are precisely wrong. If someone wants to know what the law is, they should read your comment and then think the opposite of what you think.
This is fair use.
Marc J. Randazza, why are you in favour of this website? Why doesn’t anybody think of the people being depicted there, without their permission. You U.S. people don’t care about human rights, that’s pure fascism.