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Don’t give your web developer access to your domain registrar account

by — Policy & Law 49 Comments

Another business says it lost its domain to a web developer.

Image of megaphone with words "Public Service Announcement" below it

I know I’ve written about this many times, but if these stories prevent just one legal issue then it’s worth it.

Please, don’t give your web developer full access to your domain name registrar account.

Yesterday, a web site owner in Nevada filed a lawsuit (pdf) against a contract developer alleging that the developer has taken over his domain name and business.

EB Publishing, Inc. publishes ApplianceRepair.net. It hired Adrian Bursill to do work on its website. Now it alleges that he abused his access to the registrar account and switched the ownership of the website to his name.

Historical Whois records for the domain show that it changed from EB Publishing to Bursill in 2016. The domain has not switched registrars.

EB Publishing has operated the website since 1998 but says it has now lost control of it.

Your web developer should not need access to your domain registrar account. If they want access to change nameservers (which I still recommend you do yourself), make sure the access limits what they can do in the account. They should not be able to change domain contacts or transfer the domain.

Greenberg & Lieberman is representing EB Publishing.

SiteLock sues GoDaddy over troubled partnership

by — Domain Registrars 2 Comments

Security company claims GoDaddy didn’t pay what it owes.

SiteLock logo

Website security company SiteLock has sued domain name registrar and hosting company GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY) for breach of contract and trademark claims.

The two companies signed a reseller agreement in 2013 under which GoDaddy could sell SiteLock’s website security services. SiteLock charged per subscription and GoDaddy could mark up the price however much it wanted so long as it met a minimum retail price. For example, SiteLock charged GoDaddy $5 per customer for a basic annual site scan service. GoDaddy could sell it for $12 or more per year and keep the difference.

SiteLock claims that GoDaddy only paid it when a customer paid for and activated the service but did not pay if a customer paid for the service but did not activate it. It argues that GoDaddy should have paid even when a customer failed to activate the service. It also alleges that GoDaddy did not provide required reporting in an effort to obscure this.

The relationship soured further after GoDaddy bought SiteLock competitor Sucuri in 2017. GoDaddy transitioned customers to Securi and forwarded pages on its site that used to be for SiteLock products to pages promoting Securi. According to the lawsuit, links on GoDaddy for people to sign up for SiteLock instead forwarded to pages about Securi.

SiteLock is owned by Abry Partners, the same private equity company that owns top level domain company Donuts.

The full lawsuit is here.

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.

XYZ asks court to make Verisign lawsuit documents public

by — Policy & Law 3 Comments

Company that runs .xyz domain wants to make documents from legal battle public.

XYZ wants to make documents from long battle with Verisign pubic.

XYZ.com, LLC, the company that operates the .xyz top level domain name, has asked a court (pdf) to let it make certain documents from a lawsuit with Verisign (NASDAQ:VRSN) public.

Verisign, the registry that operates the .com and .net top level domains, sued the .xyz operator in early 2015 alleging false advertising. Basically, Verisign said XYZ inflated its success and disparaged Verisign’s domains.

After extensive discovery, a judge tossed out Verisign’s suit on summary judgment. XYZ then asked the court to require Verisign to pay its $1.6 million legal bill, but that was put on hold as Verisign appealed the lower court’s ruling to an appeals court. Click here to continue reading…

Weeds.com owner fights back, asks for damages for reverse domain name hijacking

by — Policy & Law 9 Comments

Weeds.com owner asks court to penalize weed control company for reverse domain name hijacking.

Last year a regional weed control company in the United States called Weeds, Inc. filed a UDRP cybersquatting claim against Innovation HQ, Inc, the owner of Weeds.com.

Before the UDRP decision was published, Weeds, Inc. followed up by filing a federal lawsuit against Innovation HQ. Shortly thereafter, the World Intellectual Property Organization UDRP panel published its decision that Weeds, Inc. had engaged in reverse domain name hijacking by filing the UDRP.

It took a while for Weeds, Inc. to serve Innovation HQ, but now the case is moving forward. And as I predicted, this could end up being a costly case for the weed control company: Innovation HQ is fighting back.

Innovation HQ is asking the court (pdf) to grant damages for reverse domain name hijacking, plus other fees. It also alleges that Weeds, Inc. committed fraud on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to get its trademark and is asking the court to order the trademark to be canceled. All told, if the court agrees, Weeds, Inc. could be forced to pay over $100,000.

John Berryhill is representing Innovation HQ.