Domain owner files lawsuit against BMEzine.com, LLC.
Perhaps filing a UDRP for a three character domain name isn’t as cheap as complainant BMEzine.com, LLC thought it would be. BMEzine.com, LLC won the domain BME.com at a WIPO arbitration, but respondent Gregory Ricks has filed a lawsuit against the company to block the transfer. He is also seeking damages.
The lawsuit, which Domain Name Wire obtained and can be viewed here (pdf), states:
Plaintiff disputes the results of the arbitration and seeks in this action to permanently enjoin Bmezine from gaining control of the BME.COM domain pursuant to 15 U.S.C. §1114(2)(D)(v); requests that this Court declare that Ricks has legitimate interests in and to the rights to use the mark BME.COM and the domain name BME.COM pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §2201 and §2202; and to recover compensatory damages that have resulted from Bmezine’s actions.”
Furthermore, it claims trademark infringement by BMEzine.com:
This is also an action for federal and common law service mark infringement, common law tarnishment, bad faith interference with intellectual property rights and unfair competition arising out of Defendant’s infringement of Ricks’ common law rights to the mark BME.COM and Defendant’s bad faith attempts to interfere in Ricks intellectual property rights.
Ricks has turned the tables on BMEzine.com, alleging that BMEzine.com’s “pornographic” images of body art and piercings tarnishes the value of his common law rights for the mark BME.com.
By filing the lawsuit within 10 days of losing the arbitration case at WIPO, Ricks has frozen the transfer of the domain pending outcome of the lawsuit.
Johnny says
Hell yea. Stick it to the thieving bastards.
I love these stories of fighting back. It seems we are getting more and more of them. 🙂
Harvey says
Right on Greg, I’m glad you are doing this.
Good Luck!!
Ramiro says
This is going to get very expensive.
Tim Davids says
GREAT to hear this…Kudos to Rick for fighting back. Things like this will help make people think twice before trying to steal a name and will send a message to WIPO
Tim Davids says
“Greg” 😉
Jurgen Maaser says
Good for you Rick.I hope things are going well for you.
Sooner or later we all have to face this situation.We have to stand up for our business!
David says
Now that’s called shoving it down deep on their throats. 😀
Michelle says
You guys can’t actually be falling for this crap? For a slightly less deluded account of the events, I suggest you check out the latest entry here:
http://www.modblog.bmezine.com
Joe says
Way to go Rick!! Get those stupid bastard pricks!!
How dare they show such rubbish on that site!!
munin_and_hugin says
bmezine.com is NOT a pornographic web site. Maybe you should go look and see before you judge? It’s about BODY MODIFICATION. Hence the name BMEZINE. The reason why this is a ridiculous suit is because Rick’s web site came after the original web site, and the use of “BME” or “bmezine” is attached by copyright to that website. They asked him politely to take down his website without resorting to the court system. He, obviously, did not. Besides, check out Rick’s history of copyright rip-off. Tells you what kind of guy he really is.
Lloyd says
Oh, c’mon…..Ricks obviously criminally co-opted their title…If he really just has lots of domain names and is trying to draw people innocently, why would he put pictures of tattoos and piercings on it unless he was trying to confuse people looking for the other site? Be rational now.
eternalsunshine says
This is so not right!! bme.com has only got visitors because people were searching for the real website that is bmezine.com
The fact that the owner has earned money from these visitors might be perceived as a smart con at best. It could easily be looked upon es steeling from a large community of ‘real’ body modification fans of which i’ve been a part for well over a decade.
Michelle says
Amen! And how dare you assert the BMEzine is a pornographic website?!!!! That is so completely untrue its not funny and just begging for a defamation claim. Idiots.
Trigger says
Greg Ricks is a theif & con artist and nothing else. He did not pioneer anything and in fact has on stolen and profited off other peoples ideas. Bme.com was not first by a longshot and he WILL lose his lawsuit. What a petty and disgusting excuse for a human being. Long live BEMzine.com, the first & best (in the is case) Body Modification site!
Mr. Penguin says
Rachel Larratt invented BME in 1993! This is such bullshit. The only reason she didn’t register the trademark until recently is because she wasn’t a legal adult yet and her mother wouldn’t let her!
Not only is this trademark theft, this is age-ism! Plane and simple!
uraniumhobo says
how can anyone actually read this and still root for the douche, the whole story hasnt even been posted, its made to look like hes an underdog when actually hes just a conning thief, lying scum of the earth who just cares about the money
Michelle says
Well to be fair I believe it was Shannon Larrat who invented BME
f00bertus says
deleted due to profanity
you suck says
indeed
Michelle says
Right. I think our point is made. One closing statement.
Greg has a real fight on his hands – one there is no way he can win. The community attached to BME is enormous and loyal. We will pull out every available stop to ensure this thieving conman does not use our credibility for his own financial gain. Nice try, but no cigar. The honest will absolutely prevail here and you guys are all kidding yourselves if you think it looks good for you to be rooting for such a dishonest person as Greg Ricks.
Twiny says
his complaint: http://www.bmezine.com/bmelegal/ricksvbme.pdf
Full of indisputable, demonstrable lies.
Man, you guys here should really do a bit of background checking before you start congratulating the guy for “standing up” and “fighting back”.
Dan says
Deleted due to profanity
Andrew says
I have deleted multiple comments from his thread due to profanity. I welcome everyone’s viewpoint but keep it clean.
Katie says
…You people are actually rooting for Rick? BMEzine is NOT porn, it’s body modification. Besides, nudity is natural anyway, so what would be wrong with porn anyway?
MrsMelvin says
How about you people get your info from more than one source before you get behind a conman. BME.com was a dead link site that had pictures of tattoos and piercings to LOOK like the site that the people WANTED to go to.
Andrew says
MrsMelvin – the article only states Ricks’ allegations and they are clearly marked. As soon as BMEzine files its response with the court I’m happy to write about it.
bme4lyfeee says
How anyone can claim that bmezine is not a porn site is completely ridiculous. Check out bmehard. If that’s not porn, I don’t know what is.
Michelle is right, Greg really does have one hell of a fight on his hands. I wouldn’t want to battle Rachel. If she managed to wrestle control of bmezine from it’s rightful owner and creator she could do the same to anyone in the world. Which also makes me question the so called ‘loyalty’ of bmezine’s fans. Where were you when this was happening?
Oh, right, Mr Penguin, she was owner since she was, what, 11 years old? Ageism indeed.
Michelle says
Andrew, thats good of you. We’ll have to take you up on that.
Michelle says
You clearly have not bothered to do your research bme4lyfeee (or should I just call you Greg?). BME has been an active and large community for over 10 years. Rachel is not it’s original owner – Shannon is. BME Hard is a site that it is quite hard to gain access to. The general public, including active members, never have the chance to look at it. While some MIGHT call it pornographic (and thats a stretch), since it is a small and restricted area, I dont think by any stretch of the imagination you could call BME a porn site. The focus on the website is body modification, NOT porn. SOME people get modifications for sexual reasons and those are dealt with SEPERATELY in BME Hard.
Honestly, do you freaking research people before you start throwing accusations around.
And it won’t only be Rachel he’ll be fighting. It will be ALL of us.
Michelle says
And for the record, most of us aren’t impressed with Shannon leaving BME and I think our very vocal response to that shows our loyality, not disproves it. Rachel is one element in a larger community. When people like Greg pull stuff like this, it is all of us who suffer – not just her. So it’s not about whether or not we support Rachel – thats a seperate issue entirely.
Twiny says
oh, michelle, it is not “a stretch”. have you ever seen the bonus galleries on BME hard? there is no stretching at all required to call them porn. there are pictures of people having sex. lots of them.
yes, yes, it’s a small restricted section of bme and not the main focus of the site, but it’s nothing to be ashamed of. bme supports expression of sexuality through body modification, and that’s a good thing. stop trying to deny it’s there.
martron says
agreed.
jessica says
“And for the record, most of us aren’t impressed with Shannon leaving BME”
It was handed to Rachel as part of a divorce settlement.He had no say-as it actually says in the original lawsuit.
Georgian says
If it is OK for Rachel to steal the site and profit from it how is it not OK for Greg to steal a little as well and profit also? BME posts lots of photos stolen from other sites too. Even right now the photo that comes immediately after the entry on Modblog after the post about this is stolen.
bodysuit says
BME is a porn site. The clever business model is using a youth-driven site that can move a lot of traffic, to push its porn business to the top of the search engines.
Ashton says
@ bodysuit
you, sir; Are an idiot.
Matt says
i am allways on modblog.
i have never felt the need to go on to the hard side of it
noone is pushed there people go there who are interested in that sort of mods
i find it outragous that you are calling the whole of bme a porn site
also bodysuit, you are using bme to describe the modifiation site? that proves enough that the acronym is used to describe BMEZINE
Shadark says
And so what if BME was a full on hardcore porn site with an added twist to it?
If someone sells sex does that mean they’re lower than you common people and therefor doesn’t deserve the same rights as you?
What does it matter if there is sex, porn or anything like it on BME?
It’s that attitude of superiority that forces us to build our own community, like BME, and if anyone thinks they can try to take that away, after forcing us there in the first place, then I believe you have a fight on your hands.
As for rooting for the underdog.
Take a minute to think about it.
Greg has been sued several times for stuff like this, he is earning a fortune on scams like this, he tried to blackmail BME before even handing in his lawsuit, BME might be the big dog among the modification sites, but it’s still a underdog community.
Greg is the corporate bully and BME is the underdog.
Sooo, you are rooting for the greedy to be allowed to screw you over, not the other way around.
Violence says
Are you people serious? For real, do you believe he will win over BMEzine.com? (The ACTUAL/REAL website that’s been online for years and years now and of which I am part?)… Pornographic? Do you know how hard it is to access parts of the site where there’s nudity? What’s wrong with being naked anyways? And for real, BMEzine.com has been there for a really, really, reallllly long time. How can you believe what he’s saying?!
Michelle says
BME represents a very big community. And it aims to give fair coverage to all elements of the community, which it does well. A small portion of the site is dedicated to covering sexuality and modification, but given it’s a small portion – I cant see how ANYONE could define BME as porn. Thats like calling google a mapping website, because some parts of google has maps. Its ridiculous absurd and for the record, WHY DO WE CARE IF THERE IS PORN THERE?! I mean, hoenstly!!!
I’m deeply offended by the suggestion that its focus is porn. SOme of us have peircings, for example, that happened to be placed in parts of our body that require nudity to be seen. Taking photos of these is not for pornographic purposes and its cheapening to have it suggested that it is!
Michelle says
modblog.com
Jeebus, BME needs to seriously look into buying these domains.
Andrew says
**NOTE** If your comment has profanity it will be deleted. So if you want people to read what you say, don’t use profanity.
Narcissus says
Wait, since when is cybersquatting a legitimate business, #6? Seriously? Piggybacking on a site’s popularity by using their name as a slightly different URL isn’t thieving? This guy is clearly profiting off of BMEzine’s popularity, and then he says that it is “pornographic” and “tarnishing” his cybersquatting thing here?
The pornographic content on BME (which does not include all content of a sexual nature) is merely one aspect of a site that aims to include as much material relating to the body modification community as possible. As a community, the images on BME are submitted by its members and reflect the various tastes and desires represented within the community. These may range from a simple lobe piercing to a full-body transformation, or more, or everything in between. The mundane, “mainstream” aspects of BME are available to the public, as are the educational resources. The pornographic and extreme content (as well as images of genital modifications, which are not necessarily pornographic), is limited to members only, not only to provide financial support for the massive, expensive site, but also to limit bandwidth consumed and content theft, and to make sure only those who are 18+ and looking for such material have access. I mean, I don’t even have access to the porn on the site anymore, and I’m a consenting adult. I’m just more interested in the other aspects of the site so I don’t bother with the naughty parts.
nutz says
on
your
chin
misspissypants says
While I agree that this law suit is a joke and a loser, it’s rather fitting. Rachel is finally getting back a little of what she loves to dish out. Legal insanity. Karma? I think so. I almost hope she gets stuck with that $100,000 bill. Maybe she’ll learn a lesson.
Basil says
Cybersquatting nonsense. I can’t believe anyone would support Rick if they’ve ever been to BMEzine.
laura says
anyone who supports this con artist is an ignorant fool.
N1k1 says
I think most of you are being plain ignorant. Besides the obvious of Rick being a con-artist I think majority of his supporters are just against Body Modification in general. Everyone called it Porn and immediately it hit a bad note. It’s Taboo to most but a lifestyle for others. There may be pictures on there that aren’t suitable for some people but I think everyone can agree that If its not hurting you or your personally not dying from it, Then its not a big deal. Get off the porn kick.
Asenath83 says
I just love it when a bunch of ignorant airheads cheer to an established con artist, even with the links to similar cases right under the original article.
There is no need to flame the author of the article though, he hasn’t taken any side and is merely stating the facts along with a quote from Gregory Ricks.
Ed says
I don’t understand the people who think cybersquatting is a legitimate business. It’s thievery and nothing more. I hope BME sues Greg for damages.