What happens when a cybersquatting lawsuit is filed against a registry-owned premium domain name?
Update 10/6/25: the plaintiff dismissed the case. As of today, the domain still resolves to a for sale lander.
A law firm has filed a cybersquatting lawsuit against a single-letter .law domain, and the outcome could have implications for registry-owned premium domain names.
The X-Law Group, PC, a law firm in California, filed the lawsuit (pdf) against x.law and its owner.
X-Law claims the domain is registered through a proxy, and it doesn’t know who owns the domain name. However, the Whois record for the domain name shows Registry Services, LLC as the registrant.
Registry Services, LLC is a GoDaddy subsidiary that handles all of GoDaddy’s registry business. It acquired the .law top level domain name through its acquisition of MMX in 2021.
It appears that MMX itself “registered” x.law in 2020. The domain transferred to Registry Services after the acquisition.
It’s common practice for registries to register premium domains rather than leave them merely marked as premiums. This is especially the case for super-premium domain names.
In its lawsuit, X-Law notes that only law firms and associated entities can register .law domain names.
The lawsuit also alleges:
Beginning in 2023, Plaintiff became aware of the registration by the individual of the x.law domain. Since then, he has been contacted by the owner of the Domain several times in an attempt to sell the Domain to the Plaintiff: the request has varied from $19,999 to $39,999. As recently as December 16, 2024 and February 6, 2025, the anonymous owner of the domain has contacted the Plaintiff through GoDaddy as an intermediary to try to sell the Domain to Plaintiff for upwards of $24,999.00
Companies often make allegations that a domain owner contacted them, only for the facts to show that it was the company that initiated the negotiations. However, it’s possible the registry was trying to sell the domain through outbound activities.
A registry can certainly do this, but what are the implications when the registry also registers the domain name in its name, and a company claims it’s a trademark? Could a court find that it’s cybersquatting on the domain name?
Domain registries should pay close attention to this lawsuit and its outcome, as it could have implications for how they handle their premium domain inventory.
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