Company sues NameCheap after it doesn’t disclose identity behind protected whois.
I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again — offering whois privacy and proxy services is not free for domain name registrars.
Here’s another example. Emergency Essentials, Inc, which caters to end-of-the-worlders by selling emergency and food kits, has sued NameCheap over a domain name registered using its WhoisGuard service (pdf).
It’s common for someone to name a domain name registrar or whois privacy service in a lawsuit as a way to get the actual registrant disclosed. That might be all that Emergency Essentials wants here regarding the domain name theemergencyessentials.com.
But the plaintiff claims that WhoisGuard was not responsive to its earlier inquiries. It faxed and mailed a cease and desist letter to the whois privacy address in January. The fax was allegedly delivered but the certified letter was returned undeliverable. No one responded to the letters.
Then in March Emergency Essentials sent a cease & desist letter directly to NameCheap.
In its suit, Emergency Essentials writes:
As of the filing of the present litigation, WhoisGuard had failed to identify any other owner of the website. Therefore, WhoisGuard is responsible for the content of the website
The company also named web host BlueHost in its complaint.
Responding to the suit won’t be free. And thus, providing whois privacy services isn’t free.
DomainersChoice says
Too many lawsuits in the US. It seem sto have advantages to be located outside the US in these cases.
Trebor Kaye says
In this instance, the lawsuit is based upon a substantive complaint, so the reverse is actually true. It is far to easy to trade off of someone elses’ name, and perhaps damage their reputation. So, the question would be, why is the person who initiated this copycat website doing it?
Gnanes says
Namecheap needs to get strict on spammers as well. I sent numerous e-mails to them about spam coming from domains registered with them and they wouldn’t take any action.
Larry says
I agree with this and it’s not something that we offer to registrants even though there are many requests actually.
But one reason many registrars offer the service is that it is very profitable and the money they collect will more than offset the occasional problem that arises. That is why they push it on everyone when certain registrants (a real business with a business address as only one example) want exactly the opposite). Why would you want privacy on your business?
Back to the legal part. Much of business is like this. If you do enough business the occasional fine, recall, lawsuit, bad publicity etc. is just a cost of doing business.
Bret Moore says
I just don’t want my personal (home) address showing up on the interwebs somewhere. It should be obvious who owns my domain names, my name’s all over them. Still, the privacy’s worth it to me to keep my physical address more or less private.
But yeah, anyway, the lawsuit route is really the only way around somebody who’s being a miscreant and ignoring demand letters.
Larry says
Bret – my feeling is, as a person who hires both attorneys as well as udrp attorneys, that it is better to use a PO Box (which Andrew uses) than to use whois privacy.
Ari Goldberger for example uses a private mail box in his whois record for esqwire.com even though he has a physical office I believe.
Josh says
Is it possible the registrant info wasnt given because the whois was the owners of namecheap ? lol
I cannot see any other reason for them to protect anyone, just a thought.
Dave Zan says
Would be interesting to see if the plaintiff will continue pursuing NameCheap after the latter provides the actual WHOIS info to them.
Carol says
I use DomainsByProxy and had legal emails about one of my domain names forwarded to me. DBP advised in TWO SEPERATE EMAILS that I should get in touch with the legal firm within a certain number of days otherwise they would disclose my details….. and I got in touch with the legal firm.
Namecheap could have done just that …. since(if) they did not own the domain name!
Jay says
I hate that these services even exist in the first place. Websites are public, therefore, some level of registrar info should be public as well — by law. We all know the kinds of inflammatory and illegal content that is just too easy to display for the world to see (and for the less-than-scrupulous to profit from). I’ve had numerous trademark infringement and intellectual property issues to deal with over the years and something like WhoIsGuard makes it very difficult to reclaim what’s rightfully yours.
Budd says
its a cat and mouse game
Tina says
I’m starting a web-based business and I’d rather NOT have my home address and personal phone number attached to it. A businessman with a physical storefront doesn’t hand out his home address or number to everyone who walks in and asks for it…why should I have to? My business is entirely morally, ethically and legally sound, but I’ll be using a privacy service and hoping it’s effective. That said, I’d also respond to a legal inquiry in a timely and appropriate manner…it sounds as though these guys didn’t.
Jay says
@Tina
If you’re starting a business, then you’re putting your info out there in a lot of ways. And if it’s a real business, i.e., ethical (and it sounds like it’s not), then you should have some other contact info beyond your home street address and your personal cell phone number. Get a PO box. Get a business phone. Get a clue. And, yes, obfuscating web registries shouldn’t be legal. Real estate records are part of the public record and so should websites be — especially sites for so-called businesses.
Fry says
@Jay
>> “Real estate records are part of the public record and so should websites be — especially sites for so-called businesses.”
First of all, apples and oranges. Unless you are an actual registrar, you never really own a domain name. At best, you are renting it. In fact, it would make more sense for the registrar’s, not the registrant’s, details to be in the whois.
Also, companies conceal contact information all the time, and there is nothing illegal about it. They frequently embed INC’s in LLC’s to create a veil. Additionally, not everyone paying for a domain name has a business.
Maybe we should leave the legal discourse to the professionals.
But, wait, if you send a letter in the mail, it doesn’t get sent without a return address. After considering your general and broad “logical” brush strokes, I’ve decided that I now think all email should have the physical address of the sender attached to it before it can be delivered…
Also, it’s “concealment” and not “obfuscation” to which you are referring.
Trebor Kaye says
Wow. You were a nasty little piece of work, weren’t you?
First of all, it was not an apples v. oranges comparison, at all. Secondly, the guy was advising you how INTELLIGENT people function, and third of all, he was right. You have a nice day, Skippy.
Archie says
Took three years to come up with this reply. Incredible.
Jay says
@Fry
>>In fact, it would make more sense for the registrar’s, not the registrant’s, details to be in the whois.
Ridiculous. The point — which you missed — is that the creator of publicly available content should be accessible and accountable. I.e., the entity legally responsible for issues of copyright infringement or potentially libelous content.
You may get a kick out of advocating for a wild west-style internet, but those of us who do actual business here for a living do not.
Gob says
Jay, you got beat.
Jon says
Boy Did he! haha
Cleo says
I believe that everyone has the right to a bit of privacy. When you register a domain your name, address, telephone number and even your bank become public. I don’t mind sharing my name with the world, I don’t even mind sharing my e-mail address with the world but I do believe that all other information is and should remain private. I have 2 registered domains on 2 different servers If you need to contact me for any reason you can reach me by e-mail, address is public for the whole world on both sites
Eugene says
Hi.
I usually get SPAM e-mails from different SPAM companies registered in Los Angeles,
Olympic Blvd. Suite 200,
but sending israeli oriented spam in hebrew.
How can I reveal their real data?
for example:
NEWSALE.ME
Rick says
Reading between the lines here – and going past the idea that namecheap is directly involved – I think the issue here is a “squatter”. Someone latched on to a URL in the hopes of making some money. Emergency Essentials likely went and registered a URL. THEN went and tried registering variations of it such as .net, .org, THEemergencyessentials.com, etc. etc. They found someone had already grabbed a name they want. They are not happy. (The person who registered it MIGHT start a competing company and “steal” their customers.)
They probably contacted the registrant via the normal process through the privacy system, the registrant isn’t interested in selling the name, and ignored them, so now they file a lawsuit to try and bully namecheap into revealing the registrant of the domain they WANT, but don’t necessarily have a legal right to. If they get the information, they file a lawsuit against the registrant, and they probably have deeper pockets than the registrant. Eventually, they can bully the registrant into giving up a name there is no LEGAL reason he can’t have, because he can’t afford to fight Emergency Essentials in court.
There have been high profile ones in the past. A real person with the last name “Mani” and the initials A.R. registered armani.com and found himself in trouble with a certain company. A kid named Michael Rowe, registered MikeRoweSoft.com and ran into difficulties with Bill Gates….
Des says
I think the internet is pretty still @ developing stage. Cases such as will serve as sources for an impending internet legal system just as we have mining, marriage & copyright laws. even this discussion is already part of it.
Jon says
If you want something just buy it Jay. Only Then it’s yours! ppl like Jay are clueless, and dangerous with their big shot ignorant views. Of course ppl should have the right to privacy on the internet, just because it isn’t convienent for ppl like Jay doesnt mean that privacy services should not exist! Btw Go Daddy’s proxy service is the absolute best in my opinion. Also having a register outside of the US seems to help to some extent.
Stop All Spam says
Both namecheap and its upstream provider, blacklotus, consistently promote spam, host spammers’ sites and always fail to take action on spam complaints.
The sooner they are prevented from operating (in this way) the better.
Jon says
that simply is not true. You could be sued just for saying that! Namecheap doesnt have anymore of these type of sites than any other registrar.
After all they are located in the U.S. and have to abide by U.S. laws and
I personally have found them to be a great registrar.
Trebor Kaye says
And you could equally be just as liable for being sued as that person. All it takes is cash.
Delwar Jahan says
Spam is a issue, but it can’t be stopped. With prevention you can minimize it. Have no issue regarding that on namecheap. But, they are not out of the law in these cases.
Alan says
Namecheap are notorious for hosting spammers & phishers hiding behind the Whoisguard wall.