[WEB4LIB] Re: stolen domain?

Tue Sep 4 16:54:22 EDT 2001

Well it's a lot easier pressing a trademark claim if you are Disney than if you are Caldwell, Idaho, but it seems to me that they ought to be able to get their domain back as a matter of trademark.  Unless Caldwell, Idaho has some meaning in the erotic realm that I can't fathom, seems like the town's citizens and supporters have a better claim than some sleazy operator who grabs their identity.

There was an incident where Microsoft.com went down for a few hours in the mid 1990s, due to a clerical error at NSI, not at MS.  But if MS failed to pay its $35 renewal, somehow I imagine they'd be able to wrest their domain back from a porn site.

There are Web sites that will watch your domains for you and send reminders when it's time to renew.

For sure there are automated poachers waiting to steal your domain.  I failed to renew Digitalmichigan.com, and a speculator in Hong Kong grabbed it when it became available.  I don't think there is a district in Hong Kong named Michigan.

/rich

On Tue, 04 September 2001, Dan Lester wrote:

> 
> This has happened to hundreds, if not thousands, of domains.  Maybe
> more than that for all I know.
> 
> http://www.caldwellid.org/ was the Caldwell, Idaho, chamber of
> commerce.  They moved.  They changed email addresses.  Neither the
> email or snailmail bills reached them.  No one was aware enough to
> have a domain name invoice reminder on a calendar, or to check it from
> time to time.  It expired.  The domain was grabbed by another outfit,
> which has it to sell, and which has adult content on it meanwhile. I'm
> sure that the new owners would sell it back to the CofC for extra
> bucks.  Instead, they quickly bought:
> 
> http://www.caldwellidaho.org/
> 
> Hey, it is like forgetting to renew your driver's license, pay your
> taxes, or anything else.
> 
> cheers
> 
> dan
> 
> 
> Monday, August 27, 2001, 10:22:38 AM, you wrote:
> 
> AM> The moral of the story is that the only way to control the content of
> AM> "your"
> AM> web site is to control the domain where it resides.  Otherwise, you are
> AM> subject to your domain host being hijacked, evaporating, transferred,
> AM> merged, etc.  I don't know all the details of this situation but from what
> AM> I've read, the domain owner failed to re-register the domain.  Someone else
> AM> seeing a domain with potential traffic and an opportunity to make money
> AM> either through advertising or re-selling the domain name snapped it up.  If
> AM> that is the case, what happened was legally fair and square.  The blame
> AM> goes
> AM> on the person who owned and then lost the domain.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Dan Lester, Data Wrangler  dan at RiverOfData.com
> 3577 East Pecan, Boise, Idaho  83716-7115 USA
> www.riverofdata.com  www.gailndan.com  Stop Global Whining!

_____________________________________________________

Richard Wiggins
Writing, Speaking, and Consulting on the Internet
rich at richardwiggins.com  http://richardwiggins.com 