Non-profit failed to secure domain names prior to announcing plans.
Barrack Obama’s campaigns have been praised for their use of the internet to rally the troops. Which is why a domain name screwup by the non-profit successor to his re-election campaign and Organizing for America is rather surprising.
On January 18 First Lady Michelle Obama and Jim Messina announced Organizing for Action, a non-profit community organizer that hopes to rally behind many of Obama’s goals.
But it failed to register OrganizingForAction.com, .net, and org before the announcement.
A couple people (who have opinions opposite that of Obama) jumped on the opportunity and registered the domains.
Organizing for Action filed a UDRP to get the domains back. Both UDRPs failed on the grounds that Organizing for Action did not have trademark rights (common or registered) to the marks. That’s the first prong of the UDRP, and rarely the prong that trips up complainants.
A Florida man registered the .com and .org domains. They now point to a page that explains that he plans to exercise his free speech rights by writing about social and public issues on the site. He was represented by Brian Hall of Traverse Legal in the UDRP. Hall has summarized the case and decision here.
The Colorado man who registered OrganizingForAction.net has forwarded the domain to various web sites, including that of the National Rifle Association.
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