Domain Name Wire » Policy & Law

Olympic Committee sues guy it won UDRP against

Andrew Allemann — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:02:37 +0000

USOC claims person continues to infringe on its trademarks.

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has filed a lawsuit (pdf) against Alan Bachand, an individual with whom the organization has a history when it comes to domain names.

Back in 2009 the USOC objected to Bachand’s use of the domain name OlympicsBestHotels.com to pitch hotels for the Vancouver Olympics. It ended up filing a UDRP against Bachand and won control of the domain.

Now the USOC is objecting to his use of the Olympics trademarks on a number of other sites, including SuperHotelRooms.com, 14sb.com, and LuxurySuperBowlHotels.com.

USOC says it reached out to Bachand about the infringing use, but he hasn’t made all of the changes it requested.

Its suit claims that Bachand is violating the Olympic and Amateur Sports Act and the Lanham Act.

In the UDRP all Bachand lost was his domain name. With a lawsuit, he could face financial penalties if he loses.

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Chicago Tribune wants to take down “Occupy” sites

Andrew Allemann — Thu, 24 May 2012 19:42:23 +0000

Sites claim to be news for the 99%.

The Chicago Tribune Company has filed a complaint with World Intellectual Property Organization over “occupy” web sites using its brand.

The complaint targets occupiedchicagotribune.org and occupychicagotribune.org, the former of which is a web site that states “We’re proud to have no affiliation whatsoever with the 1% Chicago Tribune or the Tribune Co.”.

The site states:

The Occupied Chicago Tribune is an independent media source for those who do not see their struggles and views represented in the mainstream press. We created this paper to provide an outlet for reporting, commentary and analysis on the growing Occupy movement, its unique application in our city and the struggles of the 99%.

These “occupiers” are going to flip out even more against the man when they learn about trademark law.

The Occupied Chicago Tribune also links to similar sites, including Occupied Wall Street Journal and Occupied Oakland Tribune.

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Jeweler sues Oversee.net for cybersquatting

Andrew Allemann — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:12:13 +0000

Jeweler files claim over six domain registrations.

Jewelry company Tacori Enterprises has sued Oversee.net in U.S. District Court for cybersquatting.

Tacori alleges (pdf) that Oversee.net is cybersquatting with at least six domain names:

Taccori.com
Tacorri.com
Tacoriiv.com
TacoriRings.com
Tacoti.com
Tracori.com

Tacori alleges that Oversee.net “is a serial cybersquatter who registers, uses, and traffics in domain names that are confusingly similar to famous or distinctive trademarks owned by others, including Tacori trademarks.” It also alleges that Oversee.net intentionally failed to maintain accurate whois records for the domains.

Tacori is represented by Howard Kroll and David Steele of Christie, Parker, and Hale, LLP. The two are no strangers to cybersquatting lawsuits; they’ve represented Verizon in multiple cases.

When asked for comment, Oversee.net responded “We are reviewing the lawsuit and plan to defend our position vigorously.”

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Mayor arrested after illegally accessing GoDaddy account and cancelling domain

Andrew Allemann — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:10:51 +0000

Mayor and his son accused of hacking into email and then illegally accessing GoDaddy account to cancel domain name registration.

West New York mayor Felix Roque and his son were arrested after allegedly working together to hack into an email account to gain access to a GoDaddy account and take down a domain name related to a recall effort against the mayor.

The complaint alleges that Roque’s son, Joseph Roque, was first able to compromise the email address for the owner of RecallRoque.com. Once he had access to the email he then was able to reset the password on the GoDaddy account that held the domain name. He subsequently logged in to cancel the registration, taking the recall web site down.

The complaint also alleges that the pair accessed communications from the registrant’s email account to harass people who were contributing information to Roque’s recall campaign.

It’s a rather fascinating read about how someone used the internet to figure out how to hack into an email account, and subsequently access a registrar account.

Forget worrying about losing your job as mayor. How does ending up in the slammer sound?

[note: the title of this post was updated to avoid confusion. The mayor's son compromised an email account which was then used to do a password reset at GoDaddy.]

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Republicans create Cory Booker web sites

Andrew Allemann — Tue, 22 May 2012 20:31:23 +0000

Republican National Committee registers Cory Booker domains and creates petition sites.

Ever since Newark, New Jersey mayor and super-hero Cory Booker kinda-sorta-maybe got on the Obama campaign’s case for attacking Mitt Romney on his Bain record, Republicans everywhere have been rejoicing.

That includes the Republican National Committee, which just registered the domain names IStandWithCory.com and IStandwithCoryBooker.com and has created a web site for them.

The web site asks people to sign a petition saying “Don’t let the Obama campaign silence support for job creation.”

I’m not quite sure who is against job creation, but that’s how the spin doctors are working it out.

Of course, the Republicans don’t stand with Booker on other issues that they care about. Like gay marriage.

Maybe they should have registered IStandwithCoryBookerOnaNegativeCampaigningIssueButNotMuchElse.com

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Baylor Sucks (again) with BaylorSucks.com

Andrew Allemann — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:54:21 +0000

Baylor University gets “sucks” domain back after letting it expire.

It’s pretty easy to sit down here in Austin and say that Baylor sucks.

You can get on its case for yanking a gay student’s scholarship. And for waiting until the 90s to lift a ban on dancing on campus.

There’s also that little fact that the school is in Waco.

(The one thing we can’t do any more is say that its sports programs suck.)

But now the university is claiming a bit of suckiness itself: BaylorSucks.com

Baylor University is the proud new owner of this domain name — for the second time — after winning a dispute at National Arbitration Forum for the domain.

As more proof of its suckiness, Baylor used to own the domain name BaylorSucks.com. Had it not let the domain name expire in 2008 then it wouldn’t have had to file a complaint in the first case.

You can legitimately own domains like BaylorSucks.com if you do it to criticize the university and not profit from the site. But the owner of the domain merely parked it.

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How NOT to name your company and secure your domain

Andrew Allemann — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:45:13 +0000

When you know it’s time to select a different company name…

A Colorado company just lost a UDRP for Qwizzle.com, and it’s a great example of botched company naming.

The company, Qwizzle, LLC, knew that Qwizzle.com was taken when it came up with its name. It tried to contact the owner of Qwizzle.com but had no luck. It still decided to launch its business as Qwizzle but then filed a UDRP to try to get the domain name.

It lost the UDRP because Qwizzle.com was registered before it came up with the name for its online real estate company.

I started to research where I could find Qwizzle on the web. When I Google “quizzle”, the first two results are from Facebook and Twitter respectively. Then there’s Qwizzle.co, which resolved to a blank page save for the company’s favicon. This domain appears to be owned by Qwizzle.co. Quizzle.us looks like the actual site for the company, although it’s registered to someone in Michigan.

I noticed Qwizzle.net was registered, too. Surprisingly, it’s registered by Quicken Loans. Quicken has a site called Quizzle.com, and apparently there was some confusion as to how to spell it so they picked up the Qwizzle.net name as well.

That should have been a huge red flag for Qwizzle, LLC. If people are confused that Quizzle.com might be spelled Qwizzle.com, then certainly it can be the other way around. And Quicken Loans offers mortgage loans — which is too close for comfort to a real estate site.

If I were this company I would have just gone with another name (and domain).

Qwizzle wants to disrupt the traditional home marketing and real estate business. It’s a laudable goal, but they need to pick a different name.

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