Ford dealer claims rival is stealing its web traffic.
Two neighboring car dealers in California are heading to court over cybersquatting claims.
El Centro, California Ford dealer El Centro Motors alleges (pdf) that Rogers & Rogers, a Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge dealer on the same road less than a half mile away, is cybersquatting its brands and diverting web traffic.
El Centro Motors registered ElCentroMotors.com in 2001. Rogers & Rogers registered ElCentroMotor.com (singular) and ElCentroFord.com last year. According to the suit, both domain names forwarded to sites owned by Rogers & Rogers.
The suit was filed yesterday, but it appears Rogers & Rogers already transferred ElCentroFord.com to Ford on or before October 13. ElCentroMotor.com still forwards to Rogers & Rogers’ website.
El Centro Motors is asking for an injunction against Rogers & Rogers, plus $100,000 per domain name.
Brand protection – although it’s often overdone – truly matters. Maybe this story will convince a few companies to plan ahead or buy domains to plug the leaks they’ve been ignoring.
As much as businesses hate domainers who own domains similar to theirs, those businesses should count their lucky stars the domain is in the hands of somebody who isn’t a direct competitor.
Domainers are often denigrated for having no personal use for many of the domains they own. But that lack of personal relevance keeps the price low!
Try buying the same domain from someone who actively uses it or feels personally attached to it, and the price will be much higher. Worse still, try buying the domain from a competitor!
If their use of the domain brings in $10k from customers per year and they’re simultaneously depriving you of that $10k in customers, then the domain is worth at least $20k per year in their hands. To a domainer? Barely a fraction of that.