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Lawsuit filed to recover EQN.com domain name

by — Policy & Law 0 Comments

Domain was stolen in 2016, according to lawsuit.

A California company has filed a lawsuit (pdf) to recover the domain name EQN.com, which it says was stolen from its Enom account.

Blackshore Properties, Inc. of San Marino, California acquired EQN.com in a NameJet auction in 2011 for $4,950.

According to DomainTools historical Whois records, the domain name was transferred to a Chinese registrant at domain registrar 22.cn between May 5, 2016 and September 23, 2016. The lawsuit alleges that this transfer was theft.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Virginia where .com registry Verisign is located. Assuming no one shows up to defend the in rem lawsuit, the just will likely enter an order of default judgment and order Verisign to transfer the domain name.

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Valuable three-letter .Com domains stolen

by — Policy & Law 11 Comments

NNN.com, Wok.com among domains man claims were stolen.

A Japanese man alleges that valuable domain names were stolen from his registrar account and transferred to another registrar. These aren’t run-of-the-mill three-letter domains, either. Among the domains he says are stolen include nnn.com and wok.com.

Yoshiki Okada filed (pdf) the in rem action in U.S. Federal District Court in Virginia where the .com registry Verisign is located. Okada claims that eol.com, fde.com, jol.com, nnn.com, olp.com, tang.com, wok.com, wtv.com, and zhang.com were stolen from him.

It’s unlikely that the alleged thief will show up to represent himself in Virginia. In most cases, the judge in this type of lawsuit will accept a default judgment and order Verisign to transfer the domains. The exception is when a stolen domain has been re-sold, in which case the buyer might try to defend the domain name.

 

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Former SNN.com owner goes to court to recover domain name

by — Policy & Law 3 Comments

Original registrant files lawsuit after failing to recover domain name through UDRP.

The former owner of SNN.com, who says his domain name was stolen, has filed a lawsuit (pdf) in Virginia to try to recover the domain name.

The suit was filed by Delbert Terrill, who registered the domain name in 1995, along with domain name registrar Brandon Gray Internet Services, Inc dba NameJuice.com.

(If that registrar name looks familiar, it’s because it was suspended by ICANN for the “Domain Registry of America” domain slamming issue.)

The lawsuit alleges that someone used a fake passport & business license to steal the domain name and transfer it to a different registrar.

Terrill tried to recover the domain name through UDRP earlier this year. It failed after not providing evidence of common law rights in the term “SNN”.

Also, unusual in cases of alleged domain theft, the current registrant of the domain responded in the dispute. The registrant claimed it acquired the domain legitimately.

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June’s top DNW stories

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Here’s a rundown of the top stories and podcasts on DNW from last month:

1. Timing is everything: why .XXX dwarfs other adult top level domain names – The .XXX namespace and others recently sold by ICM Registry paint a picture of how difficult it is to market a new TLD in a crowded environment.

2. Yes, your domain name registrar has made it impossible for people to contact you – The general internet public is just learning about the Whois ramifications of GDPR.

3. Man gets 20 years in prison for trying to steal a domain name – A man is headed to prison after an unusual physical attempt to steal a domain name.

4. Web.com to go private in $2 billion acquisition – The final price could be higher if competing offers come in.

5. Namecheap starts sending expired domains to GoDaddy Auctions – Namecheap is the latest domain name registrar to sign up to sell expired domains through GoDaddy.

Podcasts

All About .Me – I chat with .Me registry CMO Natasa Djukanovic about how the .Me domain name came to be.

Three companies using new TLDs – Three individuals who registered new TLDs for their businesses explain why.

The Amazon FBA business model – Learn about FBA, a unique ecommerce opportunity.

John Pollard: How to grow the usage of domain names – Donuts’ EVP of Registry explains how he believes domain names can find new uses.

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Man gets 20 years in prison for trying to steal a domain name

by — Policy & Law 11 Comments

Man tried physically force domain owner to transfer the domain name.

A Cedar Rapids, Iowa man will head to prison for 20 years for trying to steal a domain name, the Associated Press reports.

By steal a domain name, I mean physically.

Sherman Hopkins Jr. broke into a man’s home on June 21, 2017 with a handgun and demanded that the resident transfer the domain name DoItForState.com to another account, the AP reports. He shot the man with the gun and used a stun gun, but then the man got control of the gun and shot Hopkins back.

Domain name theft happens all of the time, but rarely does it involve a physical altercation. Usually, it’s a matter of stealing someone’s domain name registrar credentials or hacking into their email.

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