Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cybersquatting

How to buy a domain from a squatter?

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:32:20 -0800

What's the best way to buy a .com domain from a squatter? Have you used a third-party to anonymously negotiate a domain purchase? I'd be very interested to hear your experiences. Googling about reveals a number of businesses that offer to handle anonymized negotiations of such matters... have any MeFites used these services and been pleased with the process? Or displeased? If so, would you recommend someone? What kind of rates, above the domain price itself, would we be looking at paying? This is in the U.S.

Note that the decision has already been made that if the domain can be had at a reasonable price, we should just buy the thing. I'd rather not encourage squatting as a business model... if it were me personally I'd try to take it to arbitration, but it's not my call.

A shady company seems to be squatting on a bunch of .name domains. What can I do about it?

herichon — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 00:59:02 -0800

.namefilter: A shady company seems to be squatting on a bunch of .name domains. What can I do about it? While looking into the registration of a .name address, I found that my "lastname.name" domain has already been registered. A company called NameNation.com is "selling the domain on behalf of the owner" for $288. NameNation appears to be both a .name domain registrar and a "broker" for sales of currently reserved .name domains.

I thought I might contact the actual owner of the domain to see if they'd consider letting me use a third-level domain (ie, myfirstname.lastname.name), so I poked around a bit and found that the actual owner is apparently using NameNation's private registration feature to hide their WHOIS information. I tried sending an email to the owner, through the private address at NameNation, but there was no response. There's a place on the NameNation site where the owner of a domain can log in - curious, I entered my lastname.name domain and hit the "I forgot my customer number" button. The site responded with "Validation error! Invalid customer." Hmm.

Here's what I think is happening - NameNation is cybersquatting on this domain. There is no actual owner using NameNation's private registration - the actual owner is NameNation itself (as evidenced by the fact that there doesn't seem to be an actual customer number corresponding to this domain). They're squatting on .name domains that they think might sell. I can't prove that, of course, because the private registration masks the real owner of the domain (if there indeed is one). But it makes sense, and I don't seem to be the only one who thinks so. (That pettigrew domain, by the way, is currently for sale for $288, same as mine. Coincidence?)

While regrettable, this kind of chicanery is legal for most top level domains. But if I understand it right, the .name TLD is supposed to be reserved for use by individuals. in particular individuals with the appropriate personal name. There's apparently a process - the Eligibility Requirements Dispute Resolution Policy, or ERDRP - by which a .name registration can be challenged as ineligible (ie, registered in bad faith, by someone with no personal interest in the name itself). Problem is, there's a $1300 fee to even file a complaint through any of the ICANN-approved arbitrators. I can't afford that.

So (to summarize an already long post, sorry) - I think this company is squatting illegally (or at least unethically and without eligibility) on my .name domain and probably thousands of others, but there doesn't seem to be any way to challenge them short of filing a $1300 complaint, and since the cost to buy the domain name from them is much less, they're betting that most people who want the domain badly enough will pay the lesser fee. I really REALLY hate the idea of doing that though - if I had the money, I'd much rather file a complaint, since paying NameNation anything more than a standard registration fee only encourages them to continue ripping off other .name domain seekers.

Are there any other options for resolving this that I'm missing? Has anyone run into similar situations (particularly with .name TLDs), or with NameNation? Has anyone here gone through an ERDRP complaint process who can give me their thoughts on that process? Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Can I get my domain back?

willbaude — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 21:12:37 -0800

Is there anything I can do to deal with a quasi-cyber-squatter? Owing to a serious miscommunication between me and my hosting provider (not sure whose fault), the domain name on my blog expired about a month and a half ago, and was sold at auction to a Search Engine Optimization outfit (it has a Pagerank 7).

I discovered this for the first time today, since they'd left everything so that it continued to behave as normal for a while. Other than asking them if they're willing to ransom the site back to me, is there anything I can do?

I think that the UDRP doesn't help very much because I never trademarked the name of the blog, but surely I'm not the first person this has happened to. Is there anything else to be done?

Advice for acquiring "myname".com from a cybersquatter?

Manjusri — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 01:16:15 -0800

Advice for acquiring "myname".com from a cybersquatter? Posting this on behalf of a close friend. Her name is well known enough that the domain (first+last.com) was purchased many years ago by a cybersquatter. Originally it routed to a porn site, but presently it is pointed to a link farm that makes a half-hearted attempt to look like a fansite.

She would like to acquire the name and make use of it as a media outlet, but has been unable to contact the owner. The address is somewhere in the Cayman Islands and has not responded to email or phone calls. A lawyer has advised her to make an offer via register.com, and if that fails, file suit with the WIPO.

But money is a concern here, and the lawsuit route sounds like it may become expensive. I'm just looking for any and all advice, such as alternatives to legal proceedings, advice if she does go that route (anyone know what it is likely to cost, probable outcome, and ways to improve her position?) etc.

Some time ago I skimmed an article (no idea where) that talked about services that specialize in "sniping" domains, exploiting some timing quirk to wrest control of a domain. Anyone know more about this?

Thanks.

Domain Trademark Infringement?

cup — Mon, 22 Mar 2004 20:57:55 -0800

Just received a "cybersquatting, trademark infringement and unfair competition" letter for registering a domain name. If any MeFi users have had a similar experience, I would love to hear about it. [more inside] The subject of the letter was "cybersquatting, trademark infringement and unfair competition of [product] by registration of www.[product].org in violation of the Lanham Act."

They said that they can claim for legal fees but will not do so if I transfer the domain name to them within ten (10) days.

The website, however, is a consumer-based organization of users of the product and says as much. It is non-commercial in nature. It clearly states that we are not affiliated with or approved by the product makers and that all trademarks are property of the respective owners.

If anyone has been in a similar situation, would you please tell me your experiences?