A UDRP panel had ordered the domain name to be transferred.
Epik CEO Rob Monster has filed a lawsuit (pdf) to halt the transfer of vocl.com after losing it in a UDRP.
The domain has a weird history. An Epik customer owned it until just recently. That’s when the MyPillow guy, Mike Lindell—the one who you’ve seen on TV saying the presidential election was stolen—decided he wanted to buy the domain for a new social media network. Epik facilitated the sale to Lindell for $40,000.
Shortly after announcing the new name, a company called Creatd said that the name would infringe on trademarks for its social service called Vocal. Lindell decided to abandon the name, and Monster agreed to buy the domain back from Lindell for $10,000.
Then Creatd filed a UDRP and won.
Monster’s lawsuit will halt that transfer for now. He’s asking the court for a declaratory judgment that he’s not cybersquatting on the domain.
It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time Monster has filed a lawsuit after an adverse UDRP decision. He filed a suit over BC30.com as well, but he never served it. However, this time he hired the law firm Newman Du Wors LLP, which has expertise in domain name disputes.
Ali says
And there I was thinking Christians are meant to :
Not lie
Not steal
Not be bitter
Forgive
Guess the monster within him plays a much larger role in his life than his faith he “claims” to have.
We all thought Adam Dicker was bad, and now Rob has shown us all forum owners can get worse, MUCH worse.
JZ says
While I don’t agree with his opinions on things I see nothing wrong with what he is doing here. These people have no right to the domain.
Robert Davis says
Ridiculous and unneeded smears by false accounts here. I was there when it happened. A buyer wanted a name. They then found out they couldn’t use it as intended. Rob Monster stepped in and offered to buy it to reduce their losses, believing he could use it for a non-related VOIP product. Epik received an unexpected UDRP, and WIPO’s panelist did a hit job (deceptively and grossly negligent IMO). The gross distortions and false characterizations are getting pretty silly.
Now we get to read you attacking Rob for trying to help do the right thing? For mitigating losses from a higher ground when he didn’t need to? Shame on you, and you as well Andrew for your unprofessional and constant jabs. “If you’re okay with Epik”. You have managed to manufacture more false testimony against Rob and others than they would EVER have been able to actually commit. Pretty despicable and I wonder if you still think it is funny.
Do something positive, like help encourage Verisign to knock off the yearly planned profit grabs, while people around the world are suffering. You give all the wrong companies a pass, while constantly taking shots at innovating entrepreneurs – even when you have to make up false material. One more reason DOJ should be crawling up your personal space in the future. Count on it!
Thrilled to see Epik actually go well above others in trying to make this industry a better place. The price hold on the .com renewals is just a small part of it. You could learn something if you were not sitting waiting to pounce as a market manipulation tool. Beyond that, you are ruining your own platform in real time.
Ali says
LOL not sure which part of this is funnier, when you mention Verisign price rise causing “people around the world are suffering” maybe we can blame future FED inflation on Verisign too… or the part “smears by false accounts here”… I’ve been making comments here on many stories under the same name and email for quite sometime, nothing false here. Basically accuse others of making false accusations and smearing while you do it yourself in real-time.
The rest of your comment is your personal view somehow miss-represented as absolute facts, as unbelievable as it maybe we are not all in AWE of Rob like you are and don’t believe he’s the angel who comes to save your skin when a deal doesn’t happen by helping you lessen your losses. I’ve seen similar practices happen back in 2002-2010 when domains used to get hijacked, put on sale and some people would buy them on forums or other sites for a fraction of their true value just to reap park traffic revenue even for a short period. This case is no different, Rob was fully aware of the TM dispute and he still decided to “allegedly” buy the domain for $5,000 of his own money (remember he was paid $5,000 commission in the first place) and to spin this story as he was trying to save Lindell from making additional losses as if he was in desperate need of that $10k recoup.
Araf says
Always with hateful and unqualified comments Ali. It is clear you were not there but always yappy dog. You do not sound like a decent human being, and no contributions from you worth posting or reading. May the log tree be plucked from your eye.
John says
I’ve been so busy lately ignoring all the blogs for the first time in a long time that I only just saw this now.
Well, as usual with people like this, this guy is not only defaming Rob, but defaming Christianity itself.
Sadly, no surprise.
Gotta love Robert Davis here too.
So “Ali”…read the New Testament, the latest in the series of God’s word over time to humanity, and you will see – using the judicial system and legitimate means of recourse and redress in this world is most definitely part of what Christians do. Great to see Rob do that, looking forward to any just victory in that by the will of God, and if and when that happens God will get all the credit and acknowledgement for both any proper outcome and for enabling Rob to even do and pursue all that to begin with.
Martin says
Rob Monster was a scumbag even before he started doing business with a psycho traitor to the United States.
Samer says
Only scumbag is the anon one, calling others “scumbag”
want any to do this, since fake “vocl” halted Lindell’s original plans for “Vocl.com” and then opted for far-inferior: “FrankSpeech.com”
Good luck, Rob!
Thanks for fighting.
Shame others take noble action, project a political narrative. Most apolitical man!
Hope win! Go epik!
Samer
joesaba2014 says
This matter is very rare, I do not understand how Creatd could win if it still does not have the registered VOCAL trademark, the owner is only an Applicant and with a Filing Date: March 19, 2021.
Today’s date and source:
https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4804:p31nvo.3.17
Ethan Taylor says
I don’t see the domain name registered or used in bad faith. So the UDPR makes no sense to me and the complainant (Creatd) has no right to the domain name.
I also wonder how many more such problematic decisions of panelists we still have to see. Something really needs to be done.
Samer says
Maybe DomainKing can add a section to “HallofShame.com” for corrupt panelists.
Samer
Ethan Taylor says
That might be worth a shot considering in such circumstances it’s the panelists that facilitate the domain stealing.
Andrew Allemann says
I think Rob has a decent chance with this case, but I also don’t blame the panelist on the UDRP. The panelist received a bunch of conflicting information from Rob’s representatives.
Mike says
Looks like he lost:
https://casetext.com/case/monster-v-creatd-inc-2