The Gap Sues TheGap.com

Monday, November 7th, 2011

Apparel company wants control of TheGap.com.

The Gap, Inc. has sued TheGap.com under U.S. anti-cybersquatting laws.

This action should come as no surprise. Despite being registered way back in 1994, the domain recently started forwarding to affiliate offers including free Gap gift cards:

The Gap says that TheGap.com forwards to one of two web sites offering gift cards if people submit their personal information and complete sponsor offers. If the user tries to leave the page they are presented with a pop-up warning which can redirect them to a third web site.

The apparel company filed the in rem action against the domain name in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia. This is where .com registry VeriSign is based.

The company is seeking control of the domain name.

Further Reading:

  1. GoDaddy offers gift cards

13 Comments » - Posted in Policy & Law by

Comments

  1. Peter
    November 7th, 2011 | 11:28 am

    All this bitchy big company can’t even afford to buy the domain name? sue seems to be the easier and cheaper way for all this big bukky! 2 Thumbs down!

  2. Marg
    November 7th, 2011 | 11:42 am

    Registered in 1994 and The Gap is only NOW coming after this domain?? I would have thought a quiet purchase of this domain some years ago would have been better than a lawsuit which only points up what idiots they were not to have acquired this in the first place…

  3. Ms Domainer
    November 7th, 2011 | 1:25 pm

    *

    Why should Gap pay some squatter who is cashing in on its brand?

    Kudos to Gap for going after this numpty.

    The squatter WILL lose, of course. Although the domain was registered in 1994, it is definitely being used in bad faith and, quite possibly, in a scamming scheme.

    According to the facts presented here, Gap is using the anti-cybersquatting law in the correct way and is NOT overreaching by suing the owner.

    *

  4. Josh
    November 7th, 2011 | 3:24 pm

    Wait, they SUED and simply asked for the name? Not the most practical approach ?????

  5. Andrew Allemann
    November 7th, 2011 | 3:27 pm

    @ Josh – it’s an in rem case against the domain. Since they were unable to get in touch with the domain owner it was the only practical approach.

  6. gerry
    November 7th, 2011 | 3:49 pm

    thegap.com was registered in 1994 and controlled by Genesis Project, the first Northern Ireland ISP, thegap.com stood for THE Gesesis Access Point… gees !

  7. Josh
    November 7th, 2011 | 7:34 pm

    Thanks Andrew, did not know that.

  8. Web Hosting
    November 8th, 2011 | 1:55 am

    People should know before registering a domain name that they might be stuck in the case of cyber-squatting in their very distant future

  9. Domainer Extraordinaire
    November 8th, 2011 | 3:30 am

    Another TM holder pissed off at a survey page.

  10. Dave Zan
    November 8th, 2011 | 6:37 am

    Is anyone able to see if the domain’s changed hands since ’94, which might explain the recent survey page?

  11. Andrew Allemann
    November 8th, 2011 | 1:14 pm

    @ Dave Zan – it hasn’t changed hands in years

  12. David Taylor
    November 8th, 2011 | 5:54 pm

    Interesting. The brand owner here has clearly considered its options in light of the changed use. The changed use changes things. Seems an in rem action appropriate as the registration in 1994 is potentially problematic for a UDRP given the need for bad faith registration AND bad faith use to prevail. I say Mind the Gap.

  13. Dave Zan
    November 8th, 2011 | 10:11 pm

    Thanks, Andrew! Definitely they’ll need to “close the gap” before it gets any bigger this time.

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