Archive for June, 2011

Another twist in ModernWarfare3.com story, still not owned by Activision

The ModernWarfare3.com ‘not owned by Activision’ story took another twist today as the producer of the video displayed on the homepage of the now ‘anti Call of Duty’ website, posted a message on the YouTube video saying, “I did not create ModernWarfare3.com.”

I’ve been following the story of ModernWarfare3.com even before it was officially revealed that Activision was planning to launch its next Call of Duty Modern Warfare game called Modern Warfare 3.

Way back in January, rumors were already circulating that the next Call of Duty game title would be Modern Warfare 3. But as I wrote back then, Activision didn’t own ModernWarfare3.com.

By mid May, information and dates were leaked on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 to online gaming magazine, Kotaku. It was announced that Activision was developing what could turn out to be its biggest installment of a Call of Duty game to date, but surprisingly, it didn’t even own the matching domain name.

Days after news hit the internet, the owner of ModernWarfare3.com had a website online with thousands of Facebook fans.

Activision then announced plans for Call of Duty Elite, to coincide with the release of Modern Warfare 3.

As news outlets ate the stories up about Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty Elite, ModernWarfare3.com went offline for days, in what appeared to be a response to Activision’s lawyers.

At the same time, the battle between EA’s Battlefield 3 and Activision’s ModernWarfare 3 heated up. But online, EA had already positioned itself with a website on Battlefield.com and Battlefield3.com, while Activision owned neither ModerWarfare.com nor ModernWarfare3.com. In fact, during this time in mid June, EA acquired Battlefield.net.

Then, just over a week ago, ModernWarfare3.com came back online, but instead of being a fan site, the owner launched a revamped website lashing out at Activision, in a series of statements and videos, throwing support instead to Electronic Arts’ Battlefield 3.

The site, which claims to be “Under Seige”, still doesn’t belong to Activision.

Now today it appears the producer of the YouTube video posted on the homepage of ModernWarfare3.com who goes by RoboJules, never endorsed the website.

Titled “Modern Warfare 3 sucks”, a message has been overlayed on the the video (screen shot below).

I’ve reached out the owner of ModernWarfare3.com (who also owns the .net) for comment, and will update this post if I hear back.

Transfer denied to Systemware in domain dispute over Cite.com

J.B. | June 30, 2011 | Comments (0)

This result is not surprising. Panelist Christopher J. Pibus has denied Systemware, Inc. of Addison, Texas, the domain name cite.com, in a dispute filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

On April 26, 2011, a complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center. The complainant, Systemware, operates a business which provides database management software and filed filed a trademark application for the mark CITE on March 17, 2011.

According to WIPO, the Respondent Gene Volovich registered the domain name cite.com on March 26, 1997.

That’s right, Gene registered the domain name fourteen years earlier.

Systemware argued that it invested a significant amount of money to promote its business and trademark, despite only filing the application a month earlier. Even before Systemware filed for a trademark application on CITE, other trademarks had already been registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office by other companies, but never disputed.

Systemware also argued that Gene had no legitimate rights or interests to the disputed domain name because he is not commonly known by the name CITE, and was never authorized or licensed by Systemware to use the CITE trademark,which it filed for 14 years after the domain was first registered.

Panelist Christopher J. Pibus found that cite.com is identical to Systemware’s trademark CITE, except for the addition of “.com”, but since Gene registered the domain 14 years earlier, he had legitimate rights or interests to the name.

As a result of failing to satisfy the requirement for “Rights or Legitimate Interests”, Systemware was denied the domain name and no finding was made on the “Bad Faith” claim, which can help in supporting claims of reverse domain name hijacking if there is no finding of “Bad Faith”.

Although there wasn’t any finding of reverse domain name hijacking against Systemware, Gene did contend that Systemware was attempting to hijack the name.

Now it looks like Systemware will have to shell out serious bucks to purchase the name if it really wants it. The company filed another trademark application this past week on CITE, this time for cloud computing featuring software for use in database management.

Looks like Arizona State wants SunDevils.com, a naturist website

J.B. | June 28, 2011 | Comments (1)

The domain sundevils.com was first registered back in 1999 and throughout the years has had a lot of different uses, including re-directing to the website of Diablo Sun Devils, a naturist club founded in the San Francisco Bay Area that publishes nude photographs of women online. Its motto, “Dedicated to bringing the freedom and joy of social nudism and naturism to women everywhere.”

For Arizona State University, home of the Sun Devils, it looks like enough is enough.

A complaint (case no. 1393853) has now been filed with the National Arbitration Forum (“NAF”).

Though the complainant isn’t officially known just yet, it would only make sense that Arizona State filed the domain dispute over sundevils.com, which has claim to variety of trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office dating back to the 1980s.

ASU does use thesundevils.com, which re-directs to its official athletics site on thesundevils.cstv.com, but unsuspecting visitors who type sundevils.com into the browser’s address bar might find themselves in for a shocking surprise.

In the mid-2000s, the owner of sundevils.com did for a time, re-direct the URL to thesundevils.com according to screenshot history, but considering a number of factors such as having trademark rights, this could be a quick open and shut case for the National Arbitration Forum.

In 2008, the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona won a dispute over the domain arizonawildcats.com.

Discussion: Deadspin

(Photo of Sparky “hand waver” via Arizona State University)

Domain dispute proceedings over typo Twiter.com have been suspended

J.B. | June 26, 2011 | Comments (3)

It appears Twitter has requested that the proceedings over the disputed domain twiter.com be suspended.

The micro blogging site filed a domain dispute (case #D2011-0890) over the web address twiter.com with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in early June, days later it added twiter.biz to its case.

The owner of twiter.com has used the web address typo to trick visitors into clicking links that promise free gifts after providing personal information such as email and address.

According to the latest website update (see below) by the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, the case status has been changed to ‘Suspended’, which indicates that Twitter has reached a settlement with the respondent.

As of today though, the domain names twiter.com and twiter.biz are not in the hands of Twitter and twiter.com continues to re-direct visitors to an online survey website. If the respondent in the case fails to transfer the domain names or fulfill their end of the agreement, Twitter can file a request to re-institute the proceedings.

Either way, this domain dispute seems like an open and shut case whether the case is terminated or reinstated.

Twitter’s only other case filed to date with WIPO involved twittersearch.com back in 2010, a domain dispute that also never reached a panel, but was transferred to Twitter.

Pharmaceutical Product Development wins case to get PPD.com from its owner

J.B. | June 26, 2011 | Comments (0)

Updated June 27, 2011, 2:53 PM: The decision has been published on the WIPO website.

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It is a baffling case. A global contract research organization providing drug discovery, development and lifecycle management services, will get the three-letter domain ppd.com, according to a WIPO UDRP decision handed down this week ordering the name transferred.

Pharmaceutical Product Development, Inc (who uses the web address ppdi.com) filed a complaint against Damian Macafee (a.k.a James M. Van Johns) back in April 2011 which caught the attention of other bloggers around the domain industry like Elliot Silver who wrote, “I really hate seeing UDRP filings for three letter .com domain names. In my opinion, three letter acronyms usually have many different meanings, and it’s generally tough to say who would have a right to own the name.”

Details of the WIPO UDRP decision have yet to be released, but are expected to be posted online in the next few days.

Damian Macafee owns over 1,000 domain names, many of which are three-letter .com and .net names.

Over the last 10+ years, Damian’s had to fight a number of disputes.

He lost the case to keep baseballweekly.com starting back in 2000, then went on to lose oxford-online.com, resicom.com, attworldnet.com, fredricksofhollywood.com, carrefour.net, micorosft.com, walkman.net, and adm.org.

Although the WIPO panel determined that it was ”somewhat questionable” adm.org was registered in bad faith, Damian still lost the case because the panel asserted he had registered and used domain names in bad faith in the past.

The only case he’s successfully defended to date at WIPO involved fcc.org in 2004. The complaint was filed by Family & Children’s Center Inc. Damian won after the panel found that the complainant had not established that he had registered the domain name in bad faith. The complainant was also not the owner of a registered trademark or service mark for FCC.

Damian Macafee, I imagine, hasn’t been too happy about domain disputes filed against him over the years. Screenshot history for the domain name ppd.com and many others in his portfolio display the words “F**k You”, according to DomainTools.

I’ve reached out to Damian to discover more about the case and will update this post if I receive a response.

Sedo brokers the sale of Skeletor.com, is a Masters of the Universe film getting ready to start production?

J.B. | June 25, 2011 | Comments (0)

It appears the domain name skeletor.com has been sold.

The Whois record, which was updated this week, now displays Sedo’s Domain Transfer Escrow Service. Because the domain name is currently in Sedo’s Transfer Service, it won’t be known immediately known who purchased it. Or, for that matter, what they have in store for the name of the villain in the Masters of the Universe franchise.

There is one possible theory that hasn’t received any press in the past year; that Columbia Pictures (owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment) is getting ready to start production on the Masters of the Universe film, after years of no failed attempts.

Last April, screen writers were added to the Columbia Pictures “Masters of the Universe” project, so with any luck, production will begin soon.

Sony Pictures owns the domain name skeletorthemovie.com, which it first registered in 2009. It currently re-directs to the Movies page on SonyPictures.com.

Here’s a look at the current Whois record for Skeletor.com.

Domain Name: SKELETOR.COM
Registrar: MONIKER

Registrant [705163]:
        Domain Transfer Escrow Service
        Sedo.com
        One Broadway, 14th floor
        Cambridge
        MASSACHUSETTS
        02142
        US

Domain servers in listed order:

NS1.PARKED.COM
NS2.PARKED.COM

        Record created on:        2006-11-11 14:34:06.0
        Database last updated on: 2011-06-22 05:18:08.63
        Domain Expires on:        2011-11-11 14:34:06.0

Will Zynga give The Sims on Facebook a run for its money with Familyville?

J.B. | June 25, 2011 | Comments (5)

Electronic Arts is making some big waves in the social gaming world this week amid rumors the company is buying PopCap Games a direct competitor of Zynga. But that’s not the only news regarding EA and social gaming. In the fierce competition for the next top game title on Facebook, EA announced that it would be bring the world’s most popular life simulation game “The Sims” to the world’s biggest social network “Facebook”.

You read it here first: After some domain name sleuthing, I have strong evidence that Zynga will answer EA’s challenge with its own yet-to-be released life simulation game on Facebook called Familyville.

That’s right Zynga fans, along with other blockbuster titles like Cityville and Farmville, Zynga may be launching Familyville sooner than later in response to EA’s announcement in early June.

Some Whois history and recent name server changes on the domain name Familyville.com are what lead me to believe that Zynga is working on its next mega hit.

Whois History

In March 2011, ownership of the domain familyville.com changed from its previous owner (Internet Computing) to Rob Holmes – founder & CEO of IPCybercrime, the very same company that acquired the domain cityville.com on behalf of Zynga for $38,225 at Moniker in June 2010.

Cityville went on to become the first game in Facebook history to reach 100 million monthly active users.

Here’s a look at the Whois record from March 2011.

Domain name: familyville.com

Administrative Contact:
   -
   Rob Holmes (rob @ipcybercrime.com)
   101EParkBlvd.#400
   Plano, TX 75074
   US

In late April though, the Whois record switched again, this time to GoDaddy’s Domains by Proxy, a Whois privacy service regularly used by Zynga for many of its domain names such as rewardville.com.

Nameserver change

Another change occurred just this week, with the domain name changing from its previous name server to COTDNS.NET, the same nameserver where many of Zynga’s most popular domains reside, including rewardville.com and hangingwithfriends.com.

The Sims Social on Facebook hasn’t been released just yet.

But if this rumor of mine proves to be true, EA may want to speed things up a bit on Facebook.

As of today, Zynga has not filed for a trademark on the word familyville in the U.S. or Europe. But there’s nothing odd about that; Zynga didn’t file for a trademark on Empires and Allies until shortly after its launch.

With social gaming competition becoming fierce, Zynga has gotten smarter with its trademark filings and domain name registrations.

Discussion: The Business Insider, Kotaku, Kotaku Australia, Techmeme, Gamezebo, VentureBeat, Games.com, and Pocket Gamer.

Domain dispute over ManofSteel.com, film set for release in December 2012

J.B. | June 24, 2011 | Comments (0)

Updated July 20, 2011: Turns out the complainant in the case was DC Comics, not Warner Bros. A single-member panel has ruled in favor of DC Comics and ordered the domain name to be transferred. Details here.

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It appears Warner Bros wants the domain name ManofSteel.com for its big film project set to release in December 2012.

A complaint (case no. 1395018) was filed with the National Arbitration Forum (“NAF”) this week. Though the complainant isn’t known at this time, DC Comics a subsidiary company of Warner Bros has owned the trademark on “The Man of Steel” since the 1980s.

Over the last ten years, Warner Bros has filed (and won) a number of domain disputes including chasingsuperman.com, batman-costume.com, gilligansisland.com, harrypotterzone.com, justice-league.com, and dozens more. The company’s claims were denied twice, once over djbatman.com and the second time over daisydukes.com which is owned by Rick Schwartz. Rick Schwartz won the case after Warner Bros had not satisfied its burden of proof to establish bad faith registration and use under paragraph 4(a)(iii) of the Policy.

In the case of ManofSteel.com, which is currently registered to a LBR Enterprises in California, chances are the domain name will be transferred to Warner Bros. if they are the complainant.

The company also doesn’t own TheManofSteel.com, but no dispute has been filed as of yet. The domain name is currently listed for sale at Sedo for $300 USD, a cheap price compared to what the company may have to pay in legal fees (should it file a complaint) for a legal dispute that is not guaranteed to go in their favor.

Facebook Music rumors cause Universal to register domain UMGFacebook.com

J.B. | June 23, 2011 | Comments (2)

Following rumors that Facebook will be integrating music streaming service Spotify into its application, Universal Music Group which signed a deal with Spotify earlier this month, registered the domain name UMGFacebook.com on June 21, 2011, two days after GigaOM’s story first broke.

Although nothing has been officially confirmed by Spotify or Facebook, Universal Music Group appears to be the first of the major record companies to hint at the imminent plans.

Here’s a look at the WHOIS record of Universal’s latest domain purchase, UMGFacebook.com.

Registrant:
  Universal Music Operations Limited (UNIVERSA1915)
  364-366
  Kensington High Street
  London, London, W14 8NS
  GB

  Domain name: umgfacebook.com

Technical contact:
  Hostmaster, NetNames (NH114491)
  Netnames Ltd
  3rd Floor Prospero House
  241 Borough High St.
  null, London, SE1 1GA
  GB
Record created:           2011-06-21 16:57:09
Record last updated:      2011-06-21 16:57:15
Record expires:           2013-06-21 16:57:00