Company names major domain companies in basket of defendants for cybersquatting.
3M has filed a lawsuit against a who’s who of domain name whois privacy services, registrars, and web hosts, along with numerous John Does.
The conglomerate alleges the defendants are using a number of domain names incorporating 3M’s trademark for gambling sites. Example sites include mmmbet.net, 3M-Asia.com, and 3m-sportbetting.com.
A number of the site names have changed since 3M originally started contacting owners of the domain names and some have been shut by web hosts.
I’m confused by why any gambling site would want to use the 3M brand. My guess is that, in some parts of the world, people associate 3M with a trusted brand that would offer gambling services. I only think of 3M for Post-It notes and Scotch Tape.
You can read the full cybersquatting lawsuit here.
And remember, offering whois privacy isn’t free.
Hat tip: George Kirikos.
Morgan says
That does seem weird, I also think of tape and office supply products when I hear 3M. Surprised this would have anything to do with Gambling or be good for branding Gambling names in any way?!?
Karl Jackson says
I believe that’s that exact point. 3M does not want to be associated with gambling and seriously wants to maintain what they are associated with namely post-it notes, scotch tape, and other tape of which they have current and in force trademarks and copyrights.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Karl – it’s certainly why 3M is upset. I just don’t understand why the gambling site operators wouldn’t trade off the names of gambling companies instead.
Dave Zan says
Probably because they didn’t exactly want to “compete” using competitors’ names, yet wrongly thought using famous brands would do the trick.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Dave Zan – for all we know using a Famous brand does do the trick. Maybe some people associate confidence with it.
John Berryhill says
Lol. I think you can figure this out if you google MMMBet
It wasn’t the 3M corporation that was the draw for the traffic.
Carlos says
Those domains don’t make any sense to me, but then again some operators and affiliates prefer to use fancy names for their new brand ideas instead of a decent keyword gambling domain.
Casino says
They’re using it to trick people into visiting their site thinking that it’s the 3M website.