Chairman of committee calls out iPad.com as an example of someone buying a domain just to sell it to a big brand.
Want to know how to lose credibility in a hurry?
Take a look at the statement of Greg Walden Chairman, Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Hearing, for today’s hearing about new top level domains. The representative from Oregon uses Apple as his example for the cost companies incur protecting their brands on the web. Here’s the choice quote:
To illustrate concerns of critics [of the new TLD program], consider the number of domains a company may be faced with registering. Apple, for example, has apple.com, iphone.com, icloud.com, and ichat.com. Ipad.com, however, displays nothing more than a splash page that says a site is coming soon – likely meaning someone bought the domain name in anticipation of selling it to Apple.
You know what they say about making assumptions?
The problem is that iPad.com was registered in 2001. The first iPad didn’t come out until 2010. The current owner of iPad.com has owned it since at least 2008.
A similar thing happened with iPhone.com, a perfectly legitimate phone site that Apple later bought.
Would the owner of iPad.com love to sell it to Apple? Probably. But one of Walden’s staffers didn’t do his homework.
Mike says
Again, this is why I say only domainers and those very heavily involved in the domain sphere should be giving these speeches.
Everyone else is clueless about domains.