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Disputes News WIPO

Twitter is going after another typo domain: Twittter.com (with an extra ‘t’)

twittter.com

The dispute submitted by Twitter Inc over the typo domain Twittter.com (with an extra ‘t’), comes on the heels of Twitter’s win this month in a similar complaint against the typo domain Twiter.com.

WIPO Case D2011-1973 was filed this week with the World Intellectual Property Organization.

In the case of Twittter.com, the owner is using a popular scam, like the one used by Twiter.com of luring unsuspecting users to a site that looks confusingly similar to the official Twitter site (as shown in the picture above). 

The user is guided through a series of questions that attempts to gather personal information by promising free gifts like an iPad 2. 

Today, the full administrative panel decision was posted in the case of Twiter.com, which involved Twitter, Inc (the complainant) vs. Geigo, Inc of Albrook Park, Panama (the respondent). 

According to the factual background, prior to filing its complaint, Twitter sent several cease-and-desist letters to Geigo, but received no reply.  

Twitter finally reached a Geigo Inc. rep by telephone, who confirmed that they would not transfer the disputed domain name but would consider altering the content at the website.

This apparently, never happened.

Twitter demonstrated confusing similarity, that Geigo lacked rights or a legitimate interest in the domain, and that it was registered in bad faith, which might surprise some readers since the domain was first registered in 2004. 

Here’s what the panel had to say on the point of ‘bad faith’: “Had Respondent made the initial registration in 2004 and maintained ownership through 2011 the Panel would likely have reached a different outcome about Respondent’s having registered the disputed domain name in bad faith. But Respondent has not even alleged that it or an affiliate owned the disputed domain name continuously since 2004, and has offered no proof (indeed no allegation) that it is or was affiliated with any prior owner. The available evidence, not contested by Respondent, shows another owner as late as March 2011.”

Twittter.com (extra ‘t’) is currently registered to Goldberg Client Services, Inc. according to WHOIS records (privacy has been removed as of yesterday).  The domain was initially registered by its first owner in 2007.

Given the track record of WIPO with Twitter, Twittter.com will likely be ordered transferred.

You can read through all the details of the Twiter.com decision in Twitter’s latest win here.

[Update 2 on January 26, 2012:  The WIPO Panel has ordered <twittr.com> to be transferred to Twitter Inc.  Details of the decision are available here.]

[Update 1 on November 15, 2011,:  Robin Wauters of TechCrunch pointed out that Twitter has filed a separate complaint (WIPO Case D2011-1992) over Twittr.com.]

Discussion: Search Engine Land and TechCrunch

Categories
Disputes News WIPO

Twitter finally files domain dispute over typo – Twiter.com

twiter

Micro blogging site Twitter has filed a domain dispute over the web address twiter.com with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) this week.

The domain has long tricked visitors who typed in the address by sending them to a confusingly similar looking site.  Currently when you type in twiter.com in your web browser, you’ll be taken to a website (screenshot above) that tries to lure you into giving your personal information.

In August 2010, twiter.com reached a high of 125,000 unique visitors according to a rough estimate by Compete.  Recorded traffic dipped after the URL began redirecting visitors to other sites.

According to DomainTools, the name was first registered in 2004, nearly 2 years before Jack Dorsey launched the site.  However, the registrant information has changed over the years.

The respondent in the case is currently hidden behind WHOIS privacy.

Registration Service Provided By: PBCRESELLER
Contact: +85.1234567

Domain Name: TWITER.COM

Registrant:
    PrivacyProtect.org
    Domain Admin      
    ID#10760, PO Box 16
    Note – All Postal Mails Rejected, visit Privacyprotect.org
    Nobby Beach
    null,QLD 4218
    AU

The only other case filed to date by Twitter Inc with WIPO involved twittersearch.com back in 2010, a domain dispute that wasn’t decided by WIPO,  but the company still was successful in having the name transferred. 

As I reported in February, though no decision had been officially announced by WIPO and the case was cancelled, the registrant of twittersearch.com is now Twitter, Inc.

Discussion:  Financial Post, TheDomains, Asian Correspondent, The Next Web, and the The Inquisitr.

Categories
News

Twiter.com shows the power of Typos with +132% Yearly Change in Traffic

twiter

Are there problems with typo domains?  With many, yes, especially if they were registered in bad faith. But “typo” doesn’t always equal bad faith.  And Twiter.com is an example of one such domain name. 

At least, in its beginnings. 

The typo domain which has been written about many times in the past, received over 79,000 unique visitors in February 2010.  At times over the past year, Twiter.com hit over 100,000 unique visitors per month according to Compete.  And as the massively popular microblogging service Twitter.com has soared in traffic, so too has traffic to Twiter.com.  In February 2009, the domain had less than 35,000 unique visitors per month.

Despite the typo-believers who argue every domain name similar to a trademark or service, is registered in bad faith, Twiter.com was registered long before Twitter.com became what it is today.

No one knows with certainty if Twitter.com will ever try going after the current owner of Twiter.com.  But unfortunately, the assumption of many people landing on the Twiter.com page resulting from a typo, is that a typo-squatter must be behind the initial registration.

Whatever happens with the domain, you gotta be impressed by the power of typo traffic. Twiter.com has an Alexa Traffic Rank of 27,136, more popular than some of the biggest sites on the net.